Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about highway maintenance because further investigation would not lead to a different outcome and there is no worthwhile outcome achievable by our investigation.

The complaint

1. Mr Y complained the Council has failed to carry out work to reinstate kerbstones on the highway to prevent water from the highway from flooding onto his property.
2. Mr Y says this has caused him distress and the flooding has worsened over the years.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. 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 further investigation would not lead to a different outcome; or there is no worthwhile outcome achievable by our investigation. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))

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How I considered this complaint

4. I considered information Mr Y and the Council provided and the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

5. As part of its complaint investigation, the Council has told Mr Y that it does not owe a duty to ensure that the water from the highway does not run on to his property. This is correct as the Council only has a statutory duty to reasonably maintain and repair the highway, so it is free of danger to all users using the highway in a way normally to be expected. This duty does not extend beyond the highway onto adjoining properties.
6. However, the Council has agreed to carry out work to install gullies for drainage along the highway near Mr Y’s property to try to alleviate the problem of surface water on the highway. While Mr Y may like the Council to install a kerb along the road to further act to prevent flooding onto his property, the Council has considered this and told Mr Y he would need to make an application to alter the highway for this as the homeowner.
7. As the Council has already provided Mr Y with a way to apply for the change and is acting to try to alleviate the water issue with gullies along the road, further investigation would not lead to a different outcome and there is no worthwhile outcome achievable by our investigation. We will therefore not investigate this complaint.

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Final decision

8. We will not investigate Mr Y’s complaint because further investigation would not lead to a different outcome and there is no worthwhile outcome achievable by our investigation.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman