Surrey County Council (24 013 510)

Category : Transport and highways > Other

Decision : Closed after initial enquiries

Decision date : 02 Dec 2024

The Ombudsman's final decision:

Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about the Council’s failure to appropriately address reports of flooding to his property, and its handling of the matter. Further investigation would not lead to a different outcome.

The complaint

  1. Mr X complains the Council has failed to take appropriate action to address his reports of flooding on his land over many years. He is unhappy with the Council’s proposed actions to remedy the issue, and its handling of the matter.
  2. He wants the Council to carry out appropriate works outside his property or to pay him to cover the cost to raise his driveway.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

  1. The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
  2. We cannot investigate late complaints unless we decide there are good reasons. Late complaints are when someone takes more than 12 months to complain to us about something a council has done. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26B and 34D, as amended)
  3. 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
  • 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))

  1. We consider whether there was fault in the way an organisation made its decision. If there was no fault in how the organisation made its decision, we cannot question the outcome. (Local Government Act 1974, section 34(3), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

  1. I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
  2. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

  1. Evidence shows Mr X made reports of flooding to the Council between 2018 and 2022. I will not investigate the Council’s actions in any historical reports of flooding. This part of Mr X’s complaint is late and there are no good reasons why he could not have come to us sooner.
  2. In response to Mr X’s complaint, the Council said historical highway works completed outside Mr X’s property had contributed to the flooding. It agreed to assess the location in 2023 to determine suitable solutions before updating Mr X with the outcome. Any complaint about the Council’s response, of 2022, is out of time and I see no good reason to exercise discretion.
  3. Mr X says the Council has since assessed the location and proposed actions which he disagrees with. I appreciate Mr X is unhappy, but I am satisfied the Council investigated the issue and proposed a solution it found suitable. There is no evidence of fault in the Council’s decision making and I cannot otherwise question the merits of the Council’s decision. Further investigation by us would not lead to a different outcome or give Mr X the outcome he wants.
  4. Mr X says the Council failed to involve him in a site visit. However, the Council did not offer or agree to do so, and it was under no obligation to do so. There is not enough evidence of fault by the Council in this matter to justify investigating.
  5. It would not be a good use of public resources to investigate the Council’s poor communication and handling of the matter in isolation.

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Final decision

  1. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because further investigation would not lead to a different outcome.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman

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