Summary: Mr X complained about the Council’s refusal to take action over run-off from the public highway onto his property during bad weather. The Ombudsman should not investigate this complaint. This is because there is insufficient evidence of fault which would warrant an investigation.

The complaint

1. The complainant, whom I shall call Mr X, complains about the Council failing to prevent run-off from the carriageway next to his property. He says his property has been flooded twice in two years following excessive water run-off after storms. He wants the Council to provide suitable drainage to deal with the surface water.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. 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’. We provide a free service but must use public money carefully. We may decide not to start or continue with an investigation if we believe:

• it is unlikely we would find fault, or
• it is unlikely we could add to any previous investigation by the Council, or
• it is unlikely further investigation will lead to a different outcome.

(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

3. I have considered all the information which Mr X submitted with his complaint and Mr X has commented on the draft decision.

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What I found

4. Mr X says his property has been flooded twice in the past two years when storms caused run-off from the public highway to overcome the surface drainage. He says the Council should take action to provide a proper drainage system to deal with excess surface water in severe weather.
5. The Council explained to Mr X that is has a duty under the Highways Act 1980 to ensure that the carriageway is kept clear of surface water and does not impede highway users. It has no duty to ensure that run-off does not affect adjacent private land.
6. The Council cannot ensure that water running off the highway in severe weather will not affect neighbouring land. It has explained to Mr X that it cannot connect the surface water drains to the sewerage system because this would cause sewage to affect the adjacent land when the system overflowed in severe weather. The Council says it proposes to create more soakaways to relieve highway flooding but this may create more run-off in future.
7. 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.

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Final decision

8. The Ombudsman should not investigate this complaint. This is because there is insufficient evidence of fault which would warrant an investigation.

Investigator’s decision on behalf of the Ombudsman

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman