Summary: Miss X complained the Council’s land assets list does not meet the requirements of the Local Government Transparency Code 2015. We find the Council at fault which caused Miss X uncertainty and frustration. The Council has confirmed it will update its land assets list in the coming year to bring it in line with the law which is an appropriate response. It should also write to Miss X and apologise for any uncertainty and frustration caused to her.

The complaint

1. Miss X complains the Council’s published land assets list does not meet the requirements of the Local Government Transparency Code 2015 (‘the Code’). Mrs X says the list does not properly identity all the Council’s land assets for members of the public.
2. Miss X says she and other members of the public are therefore unable to engage in the local government decision-making process. She says this caused her uncertainty and frustration when the Council previously considered developing some land.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. In this statement, I have used the word fault to refer to these. Service failure can happen when an organisation fails to provide a service as it should have done because of circumstances outside its control. We do not need to show any blame, intent, flawed policy or process, or bad faith by an organisation to say service failure (fault) has occurred. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26(1), as amended)
4. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse impact on the person making the complaint. I refer to this as ‘injustice’. If there has been fault which has caused an injustice, we may suggest a remedy. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26(1) and 26A(1), as amended)
5. If we are satisfied with an organisation’s actions or proposed actions, we can complete our investigation and issue a decision statement. (Local Government Act 1974, section 30(1B) and 34H(i), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

6. I spoke to Miss X and considered documents provided by her and the Council in response to my enquiries.
7. Miss X and the Council had an opportunity to comment on my draft decision. I considered their comments before reaching a final decision.

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What I found

Law and guidance

8. The Local Government Transparency Code 2015 (‘The Code’) is issued by the Secretary of State under section 2 of the Local Government, Planning and Land Act 1980. The Code aims to increase democratic accountability and make it easier for local people to contribute to local decision making. It ensures local people can see and access data covering use of assets, so they are able to scrutinise how well their local authority manages its assets.
9. The Code contains government guidance on data (held and managed by local authorities) which must be published for local people. It says:
1. Data which must be published includes details of all land and building assets including undeveloped land. For each land or building asset, the local authority must publish a list containing its:

• Unique Property Reference Number (UPRN)- a unique 12-digit number assigned to every unit of land and property recorded by local government, as a statutory obligation.
• Unique Asset Identifier - the local reference used by the local authority, sometimes known as ‘local name or building block’. There should be one entry per asset or user/owner.
• Name of the building/land or both.
• Street number or numbers.
• Street name- this is the postal address.
• Post town and United Kingdom postcode.
• Map reference- local authorities may use either Ordnance Survey or ISO 6709 systems to identify the location of an asset but must make clear which is being used.
2. Published data should be as accurate as possible at first publication. While errors may occur, the publication of information should not be unduly delayed rectifying mistakes. The best way to achieve this is by having robust information management processes in place.
3. Local authorities can publish the data at five levels (1-5 stars) with one star being a publicly available online list, two being similar to one but with an additional machine-readable format (excel); three is similar to two but using a more complex system which allows extraction and comparison of data. The government recommends Council’s aim for three stars.

The Council’s land assets data

10. The Council’s website says:
• Its portfolio includes a variety of land and property assets including managed commercial land and industrial estates, offices, depots, car parks, cemeteries, play areas, public conveniences, woods, and amenity land.
• Its land assets list is available via a link which is published on its website.
• It recently completed full registration of its estate with HM Land Registry, along with updating its system to an electronic format.
• If someone wants to know whether the Council owns a specific piece of land or property, they should make enquiries with the Council.
11. The Council’s published land assets list:
• Consists of a single downloadable pdf document.
• Shows a list of addresses together with a unique asset identifier and a deed reference for each address.
• Does not refer to a UPRN for each land asset.
• Refers to streets and postcodes for some addresses but is inconsistent with other land assets.
• Describes some land without any further reference to clearly identify the location with a map reference.

What happened

12. Miss X explained, in late 2022:
• She found out the Council had identified a piece of land for development.
• She and other residents opposed the development on the basis there were more suitable Council owned land assets which had not been considered.
• She then discovered the Council did not have a published land assets list. She believed this would impact the Council’s decision-making process.
• She experienced uncertainty and frustration because the Council’s land assets list was not available for her to consult when she wanted to make representations to the Council about its management of land assets.
13. In late January 2023, Miss X contacted the Council and requested it make the land assets list available in line with the Code. Miss X said she did not receive a response. She said she sent further follow up emails also without response.

Miss X’s complaint

14. In early June, Miss X complained to the Council about the issues she has raised with us. She also complained about a separate issue which is not part of my investigation.

The Council’s complaint responses

15. In its late July, stage one response the Council:
• Accepted its land assets list was not available for a period, as it was omitted in error during a website update. It apologised for the oversight.
• Thanked Miss X for raising the issue and said it has been working on correcting the situation since her earlier contact in January.
• Confirmed its land assets list was now available on its website and provided a link for access.
16. Miss X was not satisfied with the Council’s response and escalated her complaint. She explained the newly published list was still inconsistent with the Code as some well-known land assets were missing and it did not include information required by the Code.
17. In its mid-August stage two response the Council:
• Apologised for the land assets list being unavailable for a period of six months (January-June 2023) and acknowledged it may have caused Miss X frustration and distress.
• Confirmed it had reviewed how to present its land assets information and adopted a system using its local mapping database in conjunction with a HM Land Registry referencing system.
• It had published a revised list in early August and provided a further link for access to Miss X.
• Accepted there were some unintentional omissions in its entries due to its adopted HM Land Registry system, but it did not propose to change it.
18. Unhappy with the Council’s explanation, Miss X approached the Ombudsman in late 2023.

The Council’s response to our enquiries

19. The Council told us:
• It accepts the information in its current published land asset list is not strictly in accordance with the Code. But the available information:
1. Meets the requirements of its estate management duties which have been impacted by limited public resources.
2. Is based on an official source (HM Land Registry) and the Council is always willing to respond to public enquiries if there is ambiguity about a specific site.
• It is also currently working on improving the way it presents land assets data and aims to complete the project in the coming year. It is also in the process of migrating land and property records onto a new electronic system which has the capacity to perform in line with the Code.

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Analysis

20. Based on the evidence, the Council failed to publish a land assets list between January and June 2023 (Paragraph 17). This was not in line with its duties as set out in the Code (Paragraph 8). I appreciate the Council explained this was due to an oversight which resulted in the old list being deleted when it updated its website. However, this was service failure (fault) as explained at paragraph 3 (above). Service failure can happen when an organisation fails to provide a service as it should have done because of circumstances outside its control. We do not need to show any blame, intent, flawed policy or process, or bad faith by an organisation to say service failure (fault) has occurred. This caused Miss X frustration as she wanted to review the information in the list. The Councils failure to acknowledge Miss X’s emails about situation (Paragraph 13) was also poor communication and fault. This caused Miss X further avoidable uncertainty and frustration about what the Council was doing to address her enquiries.
21. The records show the Council’s current published land assets does not meet the requirements of the Code as set out at paragraph 9 (a) (above). The Council also accepts its list is not strictly in accordance with the Code (Paragraph 19). I note the Council’s list does not refer to the Unique Property Reference Number (UPRN) for each land asset and is also inconsistent with regards to the other requirements, such as naming buildings, providing streets numbers and geographical map references as explained at paragraph 10 (above). However, the Code makes it clear that the Council must include the information set out at paragraph 9(a) (above) and, a UPRN for each land asset as a statutory obligation. The Council’s failure to do so is fault. This means Miss X was unable to access the information in an accurate and clear format and review the way in which the Council is managing assets as encouraged by the Code (Paragraph 8) which caused her frustration. This is injustice.

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Agreed action

22. I note the Council’s continued commitment to update its land assets information system. It confirmed it is in the process of migrating its land assets information on to an electronic system which will be in line with the Code and plans to complete this work in the coming year (Paragraph 19). This is an appropriate response and partial remedy. I will make further recommendations (below) to remedy the full extent of the injustice to Miss X.
23. Within one month of my final decision, the Council should also:
1. Write to Mrs X and apologise for:
• Failing to ensure its land assets list was publicly available between January and June 2023 and any avoidable frustration caused to Miss X.
• Its poor communication in failing to respond Miss X’s communications after she advised its land assets list was not publicly available, and any frustration caused to her.
• Failing to ensure its current publicly available land assets list meets the requirements of the Local Government Transparency Code 2015 and any frustration caused to Miss X by not being able to access this information as encouraged by the Code.
24. The Council should provide us with evidence it has complied with the above actions.

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Final decision

25. I find the Council at fault which caused injustice to Miss X. I have made recommendations to remedy the injustice to Miss X.
26. I have completed my investigation.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman