Summary: Mr X complained about the Council’s refusal to apply an extinguishment order to a section of a highway on his property. We should not investigate this complaint. This is because there is insufficient evidence of fault which would warrant an investigation.

The complaint

1. Mr X complained about the Council refusing to agree to his request for an extinguishment order to be applied to part of a public highway on his land. He says it is being discriminatory because a developer has been allowed to stop up the highway at one end.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. 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. (Local Government Act 1974, section 34(3), 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. I have also considered the Council’s responses.

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What I found

4. Mr X says he has tried to get the Council to close a public right of way on his land for some years. In January 2020 he asked the Council to apply for an extinguishment order to close the route. The Council told him that it would not apply for an order because the route was an adopted highway and carried utility services beneath it which would require access in the future. It said it would be unlikely the magistrates would accept the order with these in place and the highway was still required.
5. Mr X says that the Council has allowed a developer to block one end of the route with development which shows favouritism to another party. The Council says no extinguishment orders have been applied for and that the route remains public highway. The Highways Act 1980 says that highways should not be extinguished simply because they are temporarily obstructed, and it remains a highway in law.
6. The Ombudsman is concerned with process. We are not a court of appeal. If there has been no flaw in the process through which a decision has been taken, we have no power to challenge the merits of the decision itself.

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Final decision

7. We 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