Summary: We will not investigate this complaint that the Council wrongly considered that a road it adopted in 2021 previously had full highway rights and therefore can be used by motorised vehicles. This is because further investigation would not reach a meaningful outcome.

The complaint

1. The complainant, who I will call Mrs X, complains about a road outside her property which the Council adopted in 2021. Mrs X says the Council wrongly consider that the road previously had full highway rights and therefore can now be used by motorised vehicles.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’, which we call ‘fault’. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse effect on the person making the complaint, which we call ‘injustice’. We provide a free service, but must use public money carefully. We may decide not to start an investigation if the tests set out in our Assessment Code are not met. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

3. I considered information provided by the complainant.
4. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

5. We previously investigated a complaint about the adoption and highway rights of the road in question. We concluded that due to conflicting information we could not decide, on balance, whether the Council had legally adopted the road or whether there were highway rights over the road.
6. The Council has since gone through the adoption process again and the road has been adopted, a decision which Mrs X unsuccessfully challenged through in court.
7. The Council considers the road to have full highway rights and therefore motorised vehicles can access the road. Mrs X says that the Council has not provided evidence that there were highway rights over the road prior to its adoption in 2021. Therefore, the Council should have explicitly stated in adoption paperwork that the road would be accessible by motorised vehicles.
8. I will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint. Her dispute with the Council directly relates to the Council’s view that the road outside her home had highway rights prior to its adoption in 2021, and that those rights remain. We have previously considered this point and reached the view that, due to conflicting information, we could not reach a view on this issue. Therefore, investigation of this complaint is not going to reach a meaningful outcome.

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Final decision

9. We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint because investigation would not reach a meaningful outcome.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman