Buckinghamshire Council (24 022 056)
Category : Planning > Planning applications
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 08 Oct 2025
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s decision to issue a Certificate of Lawfulness for his neighbour’s dropped kerb. We have not seen enough evidence of fault in the Council’s actions.
The complaint
- Mr X complains the Council gave a section of highway land to a Council employee to use as her private property.
- He says he is deprived of pedestrian access to his drive and created reduced vision splay affecting his property. The paving of the area has also increased flood risk.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
- We investigate 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 continue an investigation if we decide there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating.
(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))
How I considered this complaint
- I considered information provided by Mr X and the Council.
- I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
- Mr X’s neighbour installed a dropped kerb without planning permission. They later applied to the Council for a Certificate of Lawfulness.
- The Council confirms the Certificate of Lawfulness is for the dropped kerb only. It allows the kerb to facilitate access to the neighbour’s driveway. It does not allow the neighbour to use highway land for private parking. The Council has advised Mr X to contact the police if the neighbour is blocking the highway.
- We have not seen any evidence the Council has given away highway land to Mr X’s neighbour.
Final decision
- We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because there is not enough evidence of fault in the Council’s decision to issue a Certificate of Lawfulness to his neighbour.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman