Kent County Council (23 014 730)
Category : Transport and highways > Other
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 01 Feb 2024
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint that the Council has failed to take action against a local landowner for obstructing a public highway. This is because the matter does not cause Mr X significant injustice.
The complaint
- The complainant, Mr X, complains the Council has allowed a landowner to obstruct a public highway. He says this makes it difficult for horse-riders, wheelchair users and cyclists to access the highway.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
- 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:
- there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating, or
- any fault has not caused injustice to the person who complained, or
- any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement.
(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))
How I considered this complaint
- I considered information provided by Mr X and the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
- We do not investigate all the complaints we receive. In deciding whether to investigate we need to consider various tests. These include the alleged injustice to the person complaining. We only investigate the most serious complaints.
- While Mr X is concerned about access to the highway for horse-riders, wheelchair users and cyclists there is no suggestion he falls into any of these groups or that any of these groups routinely wish to access the highway and are prevented from doing so by the obstructions put in place by the landowner.
- The location of the obstruction is also such that most road users may go around it as the surrounding land is open and little different to the surface of the road itself.
Final decision
- We will not investigate this complaint. This is because the Council’s actions have not caused Mr X significant injustice.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman