Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s refusal to adopt the private street where Mr X lives. There is insufficient evidence of fault which would warrant an investigation.

The complaint

1. Mr X complained about the Council refusing to adopt the private street where he lives. He says the surface has deteriorated in recent years and the Council’s own refuse vehicle make sit worse. He says water run-off from nearby adopted streets causes surface flooding due to lack of drainage. He wants the Council to adopt the road and improve the surface and drainage.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. The Ombudsman investigates 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 may decide not to continue with an investigation if we decide:

• there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating, or
• we could not add to any previous investigation by the organisation, or
• further investigation would not lead to a different outcome.

(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))

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How I considered this complaint

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

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My assessment

5. Mr X moved back to the street where his parents live some years ago. He says the road surface has deteriorated badly and there is no drainage which means water run-off in wet weather causes surface puddles. He contacted the Council and said that its own refuse collection vehicle is the heaviest using the road and it should repair the surface to prevent it causing further damage.
6. The Council told Mr X that it does not repair or improve highways that are not publicly maintainable. There is a procedure where a highway authority can adopt an unadopted street but this requires agreement by all the frontagers to pay a portion of the costs, or for the residents to have the street brought up to adoptable standards at their own expense.
7. Because Mr X has expressed concern at possible damage being caused by the Council’s refuse collection vehicle it offered to set up a bin collection point at the end of the street if residents did not want it to use their road surface. Mr X was unhappy with this and believes the road should be improved at public expense.
8. When considering complaints, we may not question the merits of the decision the Council has made or offer any opinion on whether or not we agree with the judgment of the Councils’ officers or members when there is no fault. This means we will not intervene in disagreements about the merits of decisions. The Council has explained the reasons why it will not adopt the street and what options may be available to Mr X.

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Final decision

9. We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s refusal to adopt the private street where Mr X lives. There is insufficient evidence of fault which would warrant an investigation.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman