Issue - meetings

The Director of Transport, Environment and Planning to present a report which seeks approval to implement the process required by the Local Government Ombudsman, in a decision dated 19 May 2021, to update the council’s records in respect of its adopted highway data.

Resolved:  (i)      That the actions taken to comply with the LGO’s requirements, including to undertake a full update of the highway extent map, List of Streets and Definitive Map in 2021/22 and 2022/23 addressing all areas to be reviewed and updated, be noted/

                   (ii)      That therefore approval be given to set up a small highway recording function within the Place Directorate, initially for a period of one year, funded through existing resources.

Reason:     To comply with the LGO’s requirements and meet the council’s statutory duties within an acceptable timescale.

The Corporate Director of Place presented a report which sought approval to implement the process required by the Local Government Ombudsman (LGO), in a decision dated 19 May 2021, to update the council’s records in respect of its adopted highway data.

The LGO’s decision, attached as Annex A to the report, concerned a complaint that the council’s failure to update its records to show that a road was adopted had led to the complainant missing an opportunity for access to faster broadband. The LGO had asked the council to complete a review of the road adoption system by 19 August 2021 and to report the findings to Members within a month of completing the review, seeking approval for changes and recommendations.  The review had been completed and the results and recommendations were set out in the report. 

Two options were presented, as detailed in paragraph 15:

Option A (recommended) – undertake a full update addressing all areas to be reviewed, setting up a small highway recording function in the Place Directorate to progress this.

Option B – prioritise the update within current staffing levels.  This was not recommended as it would reduce the level of service for other duties and would not meet the LGO’s requirements.

Resolved:  (i)      That the actions taken to comply with the LGO’s requirements, including to undertake a full update of the highway extent map, List of Streets and Definitive Map in 2021/22 and 2022/23 addressing all areas to be reviewed and updated, be noted.

                   (ii)      That therefore approval be given to set up a small highway recording function within the Place Directorate, initially for a period of one year, funded through existing resources.

Reason:     To comply with the LGO’s requirements and meet the council’s statutory duties within an acceptable timescale.