Leicestershire County Council (22 010 243)
Category : Environment and regulation > Drainage
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 15 Nov 2022
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s decision not to repair a land drain on private property. The complaint is too late, and we have seen no good reason to investigate it now.
The complaint
- The complainant, I shall call Mr X, complains the Council has failed to clear blocked land drains which causes flooding in his back garden. He says the matter should have been resolved as part of a planning permission granted in 2013.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
- The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
- We cannot investigate late complaints unless we decide there are good reasons. Late complaints are when someone takes more than 12 months to complain to us about something a council has done. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26B and 34D, as amended)
How I considered this complaint
- I considered information provided by the complainant, including the Council’s response to him.
- I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
- In 2013 the Local Planning Authority (LPA) gave permission to remove a condition imposed on a planning permission granted in 2005. The condition was that a hedgerow identified on the plan was not to be cut down, uprooted, or destroyed without written approval of LPA. The applicants sought to remove the hedge to enable reinstatement of the water course adjoining to relieve flooding.
- The Council confirmed the land drain/water course needed to be reinstated.
- In response to Mr X’s latest correspondence the Council confirmed it has no responsibility to resolve flood risk, only to identify responsible bodies. It also confirmed it is not responsible for reconnection/clearing private land drains to another drainage system also on private land.
Final decision
- We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because it is too late. Mr X has been aware of the issue since at least 2013 and we have seen no reason why he could not have complained to us much sooner.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman