Summary: The Ombudsman will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about the Council’s decision to sell some open land next to his property. This is because the injustice caused to Mr X is not significant enough to justify our involvement.

The complaint

1. Mr X complaints about the Council’s decision to sell some open space land next to his property. He says the Council decided several years ago to keep the land for public use and the sale of the land has resulted in a loss of vegetation along the boundary of his property.

Back to top

The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. In this statement, I have used the word ‘fault’ to refer to these. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse impact on the person making the complaint. I refer to this as ‘injustice’. We provide a free service, but must use public money carefully. We may decide not to start or continue with an investigation if we believe the injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement.

(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)

Back to top

How I considered this complaint

3. I considered the information provided by Mr X in his complaint, the Council’s responses to him and pictures of the land from an online mapping website.
4. I sent a copy of my draft decision to Mr X. I considered his comments before making a final decision.

Back to top

What I found

5. The Council sold some land next to Mr X’s property several years ago, though Mr X did not find out about the sale in until 2020.
6. Mr X says the Council decided many years ago that the land should be kept for public use and the decision to sell the land goes against this decision.
7. Mr X says the land has since been cleared of vegetation along the boundary of his property which allows the neighbour to see into his garden.
8. The Ombudsman provides a free service, but must use public money carefully. We may decide not to start or continue with an investigation if we believe the injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement.
9. If the new owner of the land wishes to develop it, such as building on it or using it as a garden, they would need to apply for planning permission. In that case, Mr X would have an opportunity to object to the application. The change of ownership alone does not, itself, cause a significant injustice to Mr X.
10. The loss of vegetation along Mr X’s boundary is also not a sufficient injustice to Mr X to justify an investigation.

Back to top

Final decision

11. The Ombudsman will not investigate this complaint. This is because the injustice caused to Mr X is not significant enough to justify our involvement.

Back to top

Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman