Mr L complained about works that Powys County Council undertook to the road outside his home following the removal of a flood defence wall on private property. Mr L said the works had not resolved the problem of water running down the road and his home. He said that he did not feel the Council had taken his concerns seriously and questioned the Council’s handling of his Stage 2 complaint because the response was issued by someone with whom he had already had contact about these issues.
The Ombudsman found that the Council’s Stage 1 complaint response did not address all the issues Mr L had raised, or explain which matters were not being addressed and why. Additionally, the Stage 2 response was very brief; it did not address the issues that were excluded from the Stage 1 and it was not signed by a suitable officer. The Ombudsman agreed that, if Mr L had been in contact with him about these matters already, the person who issued the Stage 2 response could be perceived as lacking the independence necessary to consider the complaint at that stage.
The Council agreed to apologise for failing to address all the issues raised in Mr L’s Stage 1 complaint and to provide a further Stage 2 response from a senior officer who was independent from the department to address the outstanding matters from his complaint. It agreed to do this within 4 weeks.