Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s delay in taking enforcement action against property owners in Mr X’s road who have extended their property to include part of the highway. This is because we cannot achieve the outcome Mr X seeks and because his injustice is limited.

The complaint

1. Mr X complains the Council has delayed for a number of years in taking enforcement action against owners of a property in his road who have extended their property to include part of the highway. He says it has refused to share information about any legal action it may be taking in relation to the matter.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. 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, or
• we could not add to any previous investigation by the organisation, or
• further investigation would not lead to a different outcome, or
• we cannot achieve the outcome someone wants. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))

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How I considered this complaint

3. I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council, including its response to his latest complaint.
4. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

5. Mr X complained to the Council about its delay in taking enforcement action against property owners in his road who have extended their property to include part of the highway. Mr X has been raising the matter for a number of years and despite being told the Council was going to take legal action, this has not happened.
6. The Council responded to Mr X’s most recent complaint about the matter to acknowledge his concerns but to explain that it was currently being discussed internally and was likely to become a lengthy legal process about which it could not give details to third parties.
7. We do not investigate every complaint we receive. While Mr X may be frustrated with the time it is taking for enforcement action to be taken by the Council, an investigation by the Ombudsman cannot lead to us directing the Council to take such action. This is a decision for the Council to take. Moreover, while Mr X was inconvenienced last year when he wanted to park on the part of the highway in question, his personal injustice is limited and insufficient to warrant an investigation.
8. With regard to Mr X’s reference to harassment by the property owners, this is a matter which should be reported to the police rather than the Council. If Mr X is alleging other anti-social behaviour, he can report this to the Council’s ASB team.

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Final decision

9. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because we cannot achieve the outcome Mr X seeks and because his injustice is limited.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman