Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about the Council’s handling of the closure of a public byway. This is because the decision to continue the closure was made by a body we cannot investigate.

The complaint

1. Mr X complains the Council closed a public byway in 2021 and has failed to act to reopen it.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
3. We investigate complaints about councils and certain other bodies. We cannot investigate the actions of bodies such as the Secretary of State, (Local Government Act 1974, sections 25 and 34(1), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

4. I considered information provided by Mr X and the Council.
5. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

6. Mr X complains the public byway has been closed since 2021 and the Council has not reopened it.
7. The Council says it closed the byway in 2021 under a Temporary Traffic Regulation Order (TTRO) under Section 14 of the Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984 following a landslip.
8. Since then, the Council has obtained various approvals from the Secretary of State to extend the closure. The most recent TTRO, which applies to a shorter section of the byway, keeps the closure in place until December 2026.
9. This means the Secretary of State, not the Council, decided to keep the byway closed for longer. Any injustice Mr X claims does not flow from the Council’s actions. The Secretary of State is a national authority which the Ombudsman cannot investigate.

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Final decision

10. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because the decision to approve the extension to the closure of the byway was made by a body we cannot investigate.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman