Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about the standard of work to the public highway carried out by the Council’s contractor. This is because it would be reasonable for Mr X to serve notice on the Council and take the matter to court.

The complaint

1. The complainant, Mr X, complains about work carried out by the Council’s contractor on the public highway outside his property. He says it has not been completed properly and that this creates a safety hazard and impacts on the value of his property.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
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 reviewed Mr X’s complaint and the Council’s responses. I shared my draft decision with Mr X and considered his response.

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What I found

5. The Council recently implemented improvements to the highway outside Mr X’s property. Mr X complains about the standard of the work and says it has not been carried out properly. He says this has reduced the value of his property by between £20-30,000.
6. Section 41 of the Highways Act 1980 places a duty on highway authorities to maintain public highways. Highway authorities are expected to routinely monitor the state of highways for which they are responsible and to carry out repairs where necessary. The level of maintenance and the standard of works is not specified in the Act; it is therefore open to interpretation.
7. If Mr X believes the Council has failed to comply with its duty it would be reasonable for him to use the alternative remedy provided by the Highways Act 1980. This allows him to serve notice on the Council under Section 56 and, if he is not satisfied with its response, he may refer the matter to the magistrates’ court. The court is better placed to decide whether the Council has done enough to meet its obligations.
8. Mr X is also unhappy with the way the Council dealt with his complaint. But it is not a good use of public resources to look at the Council’s complaints handling if we are not going to look at the substantive issue complained about. We will not therefore investigate this issue separately.

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Final decision

9. The Ombudsman will not investigate this complaint. This is because it would be reasonable for Mr X to take the matter to court.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman