London Borough of Croydon (19 011 413)

Category : Other Categories > Land

Decision : Closed after initial enquiries

Decision date : 12 Feb 2020

The Ombudsman's final decision:

Summary: This complaint is outside the Ombudsman’s jurisdiction. A judicial review against the Council was commenced on matters complained about, the highway status of a piece of land and its associated rights of way.

The complaint

  1. The complainant, who I shall refer to as Mr B, complains the Council refuses to accept that certain land is a private road. Mr B also complains that it is the company that owns the private road that should dictate parking and the rights of way on the private road rather than the Council.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

  1. We cannot investigate a complaint if someone has started court action about the matter. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(6)(c), as amended)
  2. We have the power to start or discontinue an investigation into a complaint within our jurisdiction. We may decide not to start or continue with an investigation if we think the issues could reasonably be, or have been, raised within a court of law. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 24A(6) and 34B(8), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

  1. I read the papers sent by Mr B and those I had on file from his previous complaint about the Judicial Review proceedings.
  2. I have explained my draft decision to Mr B and the Council and considered their responses.

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What I found

  1. The Council’s position is the road is an all purpose highway, not maintainable at public expense, with rights of way from boundary to boundary.
  2. Mr B has made many complaints about the Councils response to his complaints about legal status of the road, rights of way and parking. These complaints culminated in his company taking JR proceedings against the Council.
  3. Mr B’s company put in an application to Judicially Review (JR) the Council on 4 January 2019. The JR related to Mr B’s request for the Council to update the status of the land on the definitive map and to stop the Council to issuing enforcement notices.
  4. Mr B’s company withdrew the claim for JR on 28 January 2019.
  5. The Ombudsman cannot investigate a complaint if someone has started court action about the matter. For an application for permission to seek judicial review, the Ombudsman, following leading Counsel’s advice, has decided that if a complainant has made an application to the Court for permission to take judicial review proceedings this is “resorting to the remedy” even if the application is rejected or withdrawn before the hearing. In such cases the Ombudsman cannot exercise his discretion to investigate.
  6. I have looked at all the information and I consider that all Mr B’s complaints relate to the court action taken by Mr B’s company. It is impossible to separate different issues, as they all relate to the disagreement on the legal status of the land which Mr B started JR proceedings on. So, I consider this complaint outside the Ombudsman’s jurisdiction as Mr B had started court proceedings.

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Final decision

  1. I have stopped investigating this complaint. No further action is needed as the issue is not one the Ombudsman can deal with.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman

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