The Welsh Ombudsman has issued a special report after the Brecon Beacons National Park Authority failed to make repairs to a neighbour’s land for nearly a decade – leading to the authority paying a four-figure compensation.

The dispute is based around a track which led to the neighbour’s property. The disagreement initially started in 2011 when there were discussions between the property owner and the Brecon Beacons National Park Authority (NPA) over the condition of the track and water emanating from NPA land.

A further dispute arose when property owner erected fencing to protect a ditch he agreed to open up alongside the boundary of his land to complement the drainage works the NPA agreed to carry out.

This led to a complaint to the NPA in May 2015 with claims that contractors had destroyed the fence, removed a substantial length of an ancient dry-stone wall on the land, as well as removing a large number of shrubs.

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A Monitoring Officer of the NPA investigated the complaint and, a report was made in 2018. It found that there had been “maladministration in how the events of 2012 were handled” and referred to confusion, lack of internal communication and a general sense of drift.

The report made a number of recommendations, including that the NPA should carry out work dealing with the condition of the track and make an application to the Welsh Government to regularise its own breach of regulations regarding common land.

However, by 2019 the property owner made a complaint to the Ombudsman as the work had still not been completed and their complaint was upheld.

The NPA still did not complete the works leading to another complaint in 2021. The complaint was settled on the basis of the NPA agreeing to complete the work on the track and cattle grid by the end of March 2022, and to complete the fencing within 3 months of the Welsh Government’s consent for the work.

The work was initially predicted to take two weeks yet there were further delays. A raft of reasons were given for the setbacks – including delays to getting a new cattle grid, technical issues and damage to pipes which was eventually was seen as vandalism “by people intent on stalling, or stopping the project” – meaning the work was still not completed nine months later.

This led to the Ombudsman issuing a special report and ordering the NPA to pay £1,000 to the property owner and issue a written apology to from the Chief Executive for the way in which the NPA handled the matter.

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. The property owner has been waiting for action to be taken to resolve his complaint for over 7 years, and it is over 3 years since the National Park Authority has first agreed the recommendations in our report.”

“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.” 

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