Summary: Mr D, and nine other residents, complain the Council’s actions have caused significant damage to an unadopted road beside their homes. They want the Council to pay for the damage. The Ombudsman has discontinued the complaint because the complainants can pursue a claim against the Council through the courts.

The complaint

1. The main complainant (whom I refer to as Mr D) complains on behalf of nine other residents. They live beside an unadopted road and say the Council has allowed access to a development site via the road which has caused significant damage. They want the Council to pay for the costs of repairs.

Back to top

The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. The Ombudsman investigates 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 may decide not to continue with an investigation if we decide:

• we cannot achieve the outcome someone wants, or
• there is another body better placed to consider this matter.

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

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)

Back to top

How I considered this complaint

4. I have considered the information provided by Mr D.
5. I shared my draft decision with both parties.

Back to top

What I found

6. Mr D and nine other complainants live near an unadopted road. They state the Council has allowed access to a development site along the road which has resulted in significant damage to the road and property frontages. They are seeking around £12,000 per household in redress.
7. The Ombudsman expects complaints about damage to property to be resolved via a claim against the Council which can ultimately be resolved by the courts. In addition, where the claimed injustice is a large financial sum, the Ombudsman considers it appropriate for such cases to be addressed through court action rather than his service. In view of this I have discontinued the investigation and closed the complaint.

Back to top

Final decision

8. I have discontinued the investigation.

Back to top

Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman