Herefordshire Council (21 011 726)

Category : Transport and highways > Highway repair and maintenance

Decision : Upheld

Decision date : 26 Apr 2022

The Ombudsman's final decision:

Summary: Mr X complained the Council took too long repair the road near his house and left it closed for a year. The council was at fault as its poor communication caused avoidable delays to the repair work. The Council has agreed to take action to remedy Mr X’s injustice.

The complaint

  1. Mr X complained the Council closed a road near his home for a year due to storm damage. This caused an inconvenience and cost Mr X time and money. He would like the Council to reimburse the proportion of his Council Tax used towards road repairs.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

  1. We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. In this statement, I have used the word fault to refer to these. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse impact on the person making the complaint. I refer to this as ‘injustice’. If there has been fault which has caused an injustice, we may suggest a remedy. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26(1) and 26A(1), as amended)
  2. If we are satisfied with a council’s actions or proposed actions, we can complete our investigation and issue a decision statement. (Local Government Act 1974, section 30(1B) and 34H(i), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

  1. I have considered Mr X’s complaint and have spoken to him about it.
  2. I have also considered the Council’s response to Mr X and to my enquiries.
  3. Mr X and the organisation had an opportunity to comment on my draft decision. I considered any comments received before making a final decision.

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What I found

Highways Policy

  1. As a Highway Authority, the Council has a statutory duty to maintain all highways in the authority area except trunk roads and motorways. The Highways Maintenance Plan, developed in conjunction with the Local Transport Plan (LTP) sets out the Council’s approach to highways maintenance.
  2. The Highways Maintenance Plan sets out the highway network hierarchy and the maintenance standards that apply to each level.
  3. The Council confirmed that highways maintenance works such as those subject to this complaint are not funded through council tax. They are capital works funded from the Council Local Transport Plan capital settlement which is grant funding received directly from central government.

What happened

  1. At the end of December 2020, a storm caused damage to the road near Mr X’s home. In early January 2021, the Council issued an emergency road closure. Later that month, another storm caused the road to deteriorate further.
  2. The Council visited the site in April and identified a local water authority exposed pipe. The Council contacted the water authority. The Council signed off the work require to repair the road in May 2021 and issued a work notice to the water authority.
  3. The water authority raised an order and advised of a 4-6 week lead time for their contractor. This programme of works showed the works to be complete in September.
  4. When the water authority arrived on site in September, they identified additional domestic connections (pipes) which meant they needed to re-design the work. This led to the re-sequencing of works which was not adequately communicated between the Council, the water authority, and sub-contractors. The water authority work was postponed until December, and the Council works and road re-opening in January.
  5. In response to my enquiries, the Council apologised for the time it took to repair the road. It explained the scale of the road damage caused by the storms presented challenges for the Council. There were significant highways maintenance issues across the authority that needed rectifying. The Council explained the key challenges encountered with the water authority and a change to the scope and sequencing of work caused further delays.

My findings

  1. The Council acted quickly to close the road in January 2020 due to safety concerns. This was in accordance with the Highway Maintenance Plan. Given the extent of the storm damage across the authority, the Council did not begin work on the design solution for the repair until April. I do not consider this delay to amount to fault.
  2. I recognise the inconvenience Mr X experienced with the road being closed for 12 months. The Council said the reasons for the long time were due to unexpected issues arising as well as poor communication between authorities.
  3. I have found no fault with the Council for the initial delays caused by the water authority. However, the poor communication from the Council which led to the water authority cancelling its works was fault which caused a further 3 months of delays.
  4. The Council has agreed to apologise to Mr X for the road being closed for longer than necessary. It has also agreed to pay Mr X for the inconvenience caused by the avoidable extended road closure. Mr X suggested the Council should refund his council tax highways payment. As explained in paragraph 9, the road repair was not funded through council tax payment. My financial remedy is in line with the Ombudsman’s guidance on remedies.

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Agreed action

  1. Within 4 weeks of my final decision, the Council has agreed to:
      1. Apologise to Mr X for the extended road closure caused by the Council’s miscommunication, and
      2. Pay Mr X £100 for the inconvenience and cost he experienced because of the road closure.

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Final decision

  1. I have completed my investigation. The Council was at fault for failing to properly communicate with the water authority which delayed the highway repair works and caused the road to be closed longer than necessary.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman

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