The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s failure to maintain a highway verge outside Mrs X’s home. There is insufficient evidence of fault which would warrant an investigation.
The complaint
Mrs X complained about the Council’s failure to cut the grass verge outside her house since she purchased it in 2020.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
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: there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating, or we could not add to any previous investigation by the organisation, or further investigation would not lead to a different outcome.
(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6))
How I considered this complaint
I considered information provided by the complainant.
I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
Mrs X says she contacted the Council after no maintenance was carried out to the grass verge outside her property boundary. Initially the Council told her that it was due to the previous owner maintaining it. It said it would include it in the future maintenance schedule but has not done so.
Since she made a formal complaint, the Council has confirmed that it does not own the highway verge and that it has contacted the highway authority, which is the County Council about maintenance responsibility.
We cannot determine the ownership of land, either public or private. It is normal for the grass verge to be part of the adopted highway and this would be the responsibility of the highway authority. It would be reasonable for Mrs X to complain to the highway authority about the lack of maintenance and ask it to confirm where the boundary of the public highway lies in relation to her property boundary.
Final decision
We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s failure to maintain a highway verge outside Mrs X’s home. There is insufficient evidence of fault which would warrant an investigation.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman