Summary: Mrs X complained about the Council’s decision to stop maintaining bushes outside her home which she says are Council property. We will not investigate this complaint. This is because there is insufficient evidence of personal injustice which would warrant an investigation.

The complaint

1. Mrs X says the Council has maintained an area outside her home for 35 years and cut back the shrubs and occasionally replanted some. In 2020 the Council decided that the land was not part of the adopted highway and belonged to Mrs X. It told her it would no longer maintain the site as it was private property. Mrs X disagrees with the Council’s decision and wants the maintenance to continue because she cannot do it herself.

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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 fault has not caused injustice to the person who complained, or
• it is unlikely we could add to any previous investigation by the Council, or
• it is unlikely further investigation will lead to a different outcome.

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

3. The law says we cannot normally investigate a complaint when someone could take the matter to court. However, we may decide to investigate if we consider it would be unreasonable to expect the person to go to court. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(6)(c), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

4. I have considered all the information which Mrs X submitted with her complaint. I have also considered the Council’s response. Mrs X has been given an opportunity to comment on a draft copy of my decision.

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What I found

5. Mrs X says the Council stopped maintaining the shrubs outside her home in 2020 after regular maintenance since the estate was built. She complained to the Council, and it confirmed to her that it had checked the Land Registry records and these confirmed that the land in question is part of Mrs X’s property. Mrs X says she checked with the estate developer and it told her the land should have been adopted by the Council 35 years ago otherwise it would have a maintenance record.
6. The Council is adamant that the Registry documents confirm it does not own the land and it will no longer do this at public expense. She submitted evidence that other sites in similar locations on the estate have been recently maintained by the Council. It says that this may have been due to advice from its Highways authority about restricted sightlines. If any other sites were maintained in error it says it may discontinue this in future.

Analysis

7. Mrs X benefitted from the Council’s maintenance for several decades. It has withdrawn the service because it says it was carried out in error. We cannot say the Council’s fault caused any injustice to Mrs X because she should not have received the service for her own property.
8. If Mrs X still believes the land belongs to the Council she would have to consider taking legal action. This is because boundary issues are private civil matters which can only be determined by the courts.

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Final decision

9. We will not investigate this complaint. This is because there is insufficient evidence of personal injustice which would warrant an investigation.

Investigator’s decision on behalf of the Ombudsman

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman