Mr & Mrs X complained about various issues surrounding a shared access lane and school site adjacent to their home, including maintenance issues and alleged planning breaches. The Ombudsman found that many of the issues raised concerned matters which occurred between 3 and 8 years prior to the complaint being made to him and so he declined to consider these. However, the Ombudsman considered there were a number of more recent issues which would benefit from a formal written response from the Council.
The Council, therefore, agreed to confirm with Mr & Mrs X the issues, from May 2020 onwards, which they considered to remain outstanding and to, within 20 working days of agreeing the heads of complaint, provide a formal written response under Stage 2 of its Corporate Complaints procedure. The Ombudsman considered this to represent an appropriate resolution and so did not investigate the complaint.