London Borough of Brent (26 011 359)
Category : Transport and highways > Highway repair and maintenance
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 06 Aug 2026
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s maintenance of a road because it is reasonable for the complainant to go to court.
The complaint
- Mr X complains the Council failed to repair a pothole in the road. He says the Council failed to properly apply its ‘reactive maintenance’ policy and the pothole presents a safety hazard for cyclists in particular.
- Mr X also copl
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
- The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
- 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)
How I considered this complaint
- I considered information provided by Mr X and the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
- 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.
- We cannot interpret the law to say the Council has failed to fulfil its duty. If Mr X believes it has, he may apply to a Magistrates’ court for an order requiring the Council to take whatever action is needed to bring a highway up to standard. The procedure for this is set out at Section 56 of the Highways Act 1980.
- Only the courts can decide whether the Council has maintained the highway properly. I have seen nothing to show it would be unreasonable to expect Mr X to go to court and I will not therefore exercise my discretion to investigate this complaint.
- It is not a proportionate use of our resources to investigate the Council’s complaint handling, including its handling of reasonable adjustments, when we are not investigating the substantive issues.
Final decision
- We will not investigate this complaint because it is reasonable for the complainant to go to court.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman