Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about damage drainage. This is because the courts are better placed to consider the complaint.

The complaint

1. Mr Y complained the Council failed to repair a drainage outlet to ensure water from the highway drains into a nearby stream in the adjoining field to Mr Y’s home.
2. Mr Y says this has led to subsidence of the bank on his property boundary which he believes will collapse if weather is poor over winter and damage his property and land.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. The Ombudsman investigates complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’, which we call ‘fault’. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse impact on the person making the complaint, which we call ‘injustice’. We provide a free service, but must use public money carefully. We do not start or may decide not to continue with an investigation if we decide there is another body better placed to consider this complaint. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6))

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How I considered this complaint

4. I considered information Mr Y provided and the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

5. Mr Y’s property overlooks fields beyond his property boundary, on which there is a natural stream. Water from the highway is drained through a pipe and chamber in Mr Y’s garden and should then drain to the stream. Mr Y says the Council is only maintaining and repairing certain parts of this drain. Consequently, the drain is not working properly and is now causing problems on the bank of earth along Mr Y’s property boundary.
6. Mr Y complained to the Council, asking it to carry out the works fully to ensure the drainage system was maintained and repaired. The Council responded, explaining that it is only responsible up to a specific point in the drainage system, which it has acted to ensure maintenance and repair for. It says it has made the neighbour aware of the limits of the Council’s responsibility for the drain. It has told Mr Y it has no further duty or plan to carry out work on the drain. Mr Y approached us in July 2022.

Analysis

7. This complaint is a dispute over who is liable for the repairs to the drainage system. The Council has set out its position that it is not responsible for the further repair. Mr Y disagrees with this. Mr Y has also told us that he would like the Council to require the landowner to repair the damage. This suggests a third party may also be responsible for the repair and maintenance of the drain.
8. We cannot determine, in such a dispute over the responsibilities for land including the drainage within it, who is liable for such repairs as it is an issue of land ownership and duties. This is something which can only be determined by the courts. The courts can also award damages, which we cannot, such as the costs of any repairs needed to Mr Y’s property where there may have been subsidence.

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Final decision

9. We will not investigate Mr Y’s complaint because the courts are better placed to consider this complaint.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman