Devon County Council (22 014 438)
Category : Transport and highways > Rights of way
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 14 Feb 2023
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about a blocked bridleway. That is because it is a late complaint.
The complaint
- Mr X complained the Council wrongly accused him of blocking a bridleway in September 2021. He said the Council had not provided photographic evidence of the obstruction. He said the Council’s accusation had caused him distress. He wants the Council to apologise and withdraw its allegation.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
- 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)
- 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 any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6))
How I considered this complaint
- I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
- I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
- The Council wrote to Mr X in September 2021 with details of the obstruction. Mr X did not complain to the Ombudsman until January 2023. Therefore this is a late complaint and we should not investigate. We have the discretion to set aside this restriction where we decided there are good reasons. In this case I have decided not to exercise discretion because it was reasonable for Mr X to have complained to us sooner.
- In any event, even if the complaint was not late, we would not investigate. The letter the Council sent to Mr X was an advisory letter and did not amount to formal action. Therefore, I do not consider it has caused Mr X a significant enough injustice to warrant investigating.
Final decision
- We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because it is late.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman