Leeds City Council (23 014 523)
Category : Transport and highways > Highway adoption
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 07 May 2024
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: Mr X complains about the Council’s delay in taking action to ensure its adoption of his road. We will not investigate the complaint because past events fall outside our jurisdiction due to the passage of time and with regard to more recent events, we are unlikely to find evidence of fault by the Council sufficient to warrant an investigation.
The complaint
- Mr X complains that for over 10 years his road has not been adopted by the Council and that it has been allowing developers to evade their obligations in ensuring the adoption takes place. He says it claims to be enforcing planning breaches by the developers but that no progress has been made.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
- The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
- We cannot investigate late complaints unless we decide there are good reasons. Late complaints are when someone takes more than 12 months to complain to us about something a council provider has done. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26B and 34D, as amended)
- 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 the complainant and the Council, including its response to the complaint.
- I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
- I gave Mr X the opportunity to comment on my draft decision and considered what he said.
My assessment
- Mr X complained to the Council that he has been waiting over 10 years for his road to be adopted and that developers involved with the estate had not fulfilled a planning condition attached to the planning permission which requires an access road to be completed to a standard at which it can be adopted by the Council.
- In responding to the complaint, the Council said there had been several enforcement investigations at the site since 2008 and that Breach of Condition Notices had been issued in the past. However, it said that due to the change in landowners/developers and companies going into administration, it had been difficult to take enforcement action.
- It said that since April 2022 there had been protracted discussions between officers and the current developer about the road. However, while a related outstanding application had been awaiting determination, it had not been able to take enforcement action but now the discharge of the relevant road condition in the application had been refused, it would be issuing a Breach of Condition Notice.
- In responding to my enquiry, the Council has confirmed that details are currently being checked and the Notice is due to be served.
- The time restriction highlighted at paragraph 2 applies to past events over 12 months old which fall outside our jurisdiction due to the passage of time. We would reasonably have expected Mr X to have complained to us about these matters sooner.
- With regard to more recent events, the Council’s current enforcement investigation will shortly culminate in the issuing of a Breach of Condition Notice and while Mr X’s frustration is understandable, there is no evidence to suggest fault by the Council in its handling of matters here.
- In responding to my draft decision Mr X says he had been unaware of our office for over 10 years. While this is unfortunate, it does not bring past events back within our jurisdiction. The 12-month time restriction is not rigidly applied and while we do have discretion to go further back, we have to look at what use consideration of past events will achieve. There have clearly been problems and delays in progressing matters due to changing developers but the Council has confirmed a Breach of Condition Notice is now due to be served.
Final decision
- We will not investigate this complaint. This is because past events fall outside our jurisdiction due to the passage of time and with regard to more recent events, we are unlikely to find evidence of fault by the Council sufficient to warrant an investigation.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman