Welsh Ombudsman issues rare special report over park authority due to three-year delay in resolving complaint
The Public Services Ombudsman for Wales has admonished Brecon Beacons National Park Authority in a special report that details the authority’s failure to respond to a set of recommendations it had agreed to more than three years ago.
The complaint at the heart of the disagreement was first raised in 2015 when a landowner – referred to as Mr N – complained that water from the authority’s land was affecting an unmade track leading to his property.
It took three years for the authority to respond to the complaint, leading the landowner to lodge a further complaint with the Welsh Ombudsman over the delay.
He also complained that the authority did not implement the recommendations for action identified in its own investigation of his complaint – namely, to resurface the track and move or replace a cattle grid as well as fencing on common land (which required the consent of the Welsh Government).
The Ombudsman upheld his complaint in September 2019 and issued recommendations for the actions to be taken, which the authority agreed to implement.
However, in 2021 the landowner complained to the Ombudsman again that the authority had not implemented the recommendations.
The Ombudsman settled that complaint in February 2022, with the authority agreeing to complete the work on the track and cattle grid by the end of March 2022 and to complete the fencing within three months of it receiving consent from the Welsh Government, which was required for the work.
Despite this agreement, the authority failed to complete the work, and by October 2022, the application to the Welsh Government had ‘timed out’ and needed to be re-submitted.
Alongside the publication of its ‘special report’ on the failings, the Ombudsman has now recommended that the authority issues a written apology to the landowner and pays him £1,000 “in recognition of his time and trouble”.
In addition, the Ombudsman recommended that the authority should complete the promised works “as a matter of urgency” and do everything within its power to progress the application to the Welsh Government for consent to manage the fencing on common land.
Furthermore, the Ombudsman’s report should be formally read to the next meeting of its Audit and Governance Committee, and when the work has been completed, appropriate documentary/photographic should be provided evidence to the Ombudsman.
A review should also be carried out within four months of how it handled the complaint and its subsequent actions to identify lessons to be learned.
Commenting on the report, Public Services Ombudsman for Wales, Michelle Morris, said: “We issue very few Special Reports – the last one was in 2020. This is because in the vast majority of cases public bodies agree with our recommendations and comply as agreed.
“However, in this case the situation has been allowed to drift for far too long. Mr N has been waiting for action to be taken to resolve his complaint for over seven years, and it is over three years since the National Park Authority has first agreed the recommendations in our report.”
She added: “It is simply not right for a public body to fail to take prompt and effective actions to ensure that agreed recommendations are implemented – and to fail to live up to its promises to the complainants and to my office.”
Responding to the Ombudsman’s latest recommendations, Catherine Mealing-Jones, Chief Executive of the Brecon Beacons National Park Authority, said: “We fully accept the Ombudsman report and have committed to a full review of our actions and procedures in this matter. Our ambition is to be an exemplar organisation and we are determined to learn from occasions such as this where we have, regrettably, not delivered an acceptable service.
She noted: “The Brecon Beacons National Park Authority aims to meet or exceed the expectations of its service users. However, we acknowledge the significant delay in doing what we promised to do in this instance and offer an unreserved apology for the impact this has had [on Mr N].”
Adam Carey
