Summary: Mr X complained about the Council claiming that land on his boundary is part of the public highway when he considers it to be part of his own property. The Ombudsman should not investigate this complaint. This is because the complaint concerns a dispute about highway boundaries which can only be determined by the courts or the statutory modification procedure.

The complaint

1. The complainant, whom I shall call Mr X, complains about the Council claiming land on his boundary to be part of the public highway. He says he has provided documentary evidence about the extent of the highway but the Council refuses to accept this.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. We investigate complaints of injustice caused by ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. I have used the word ‘fault’ to refer to these. We cannot question whether a council’s decision is right or wrong simply because the complainant disagrees with it. We must consider whether there was fault in the way the decision was reached. (Local Government Act 1974, section 34(3), as amended)
3. The law says we cannot normally investigate a complaint when someone could take the matter to court. However, we may decide to investigate if we consider it would be unreasonable to expect the person to go to court. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(6)(c), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

4. I have considered all the information which Mr X submitted with his complaint. I have also considered the Council’s response and Mr X has commented on the draft decision.

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What I found

5. Mr X says he has complained for some time that the Council claim of the extent of the public highway over his land is incorrect. He says that he has documents which indicate the highway is not as wide as claimed by the Council but that it has dismissed this as insufficient evidence. The Council says that the historical record of the highway extent is correct and that the only way to amend the extent of the highway would be to use the statutory procedure to extinguish highway rights.
6. The Ombudsman cannot determine highway boundaries or land ownership. The Council has a duty to protect the public highway and it is the authority which decides the extent of highway boundaries. If Mr X wishes to challenge the highway authority’s views, then he would need to take legal advice with a view to obtaining a court decision or seek to extinguish the rights claimed by the authority. He could use the evidence which he has obtained to support his claim that the highway width is incorrect.

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Final decision

7. The Ombudsman should not investigate this complaint. This is because the complaint concerns a dispute about highway boundaries which can only be determined by the courts or the statutory modification procedure.

Investigator’s decision on behalf of the Ombudsman

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman