A WATCHDOG today told Kirklees Council to take over responsibility for maintenance of a private road after mishandling plans for new homes.
And Local Government Ombudsman Patricia Thomas said the errors were made worse by the council giving her wrong information during her investigation.
Residents were left dreading the prospect of misery from extra traffic when planners failed to impose a condition restricting use of their road.
One man said they faced dust, noise and parking problems in the street - the location of which is not revealed in the Ombudsman's report.
Mrs Thomas said: "The complaint is fully justified."
She said the council should now bring the road up to a better standard and ensure it was kept maintained in future.
One man living on the private street said the council's failure meant residents were in line for nuisance from construction vehicles and from the cars of people living in the new homes.
Mrs Thomas said: "The council was aware of the potential problem - which had been drawn to its attention many times - but still failed to imp- ose the relevant condition."
She is also telling the council to pay £500 to the man who complained and to review how its planning department deals with complaints.
Staff should go through new training courses, she said.
Her report said: "It appears that more effort was made to try to shift responsibility from one department to another rather than to acknowledge and admit that an error had been made."
A Kirklees Council spokeswoman said: "With the co-operation of the developer, council officers have ensured, as far as possible, that traffic from the development will not use the road in question during or after construction."
Further consideration to access would be given at a planning meeting on January 7.
"The planning service has already reviewed the way it deals with complaints and Ombudsman enquiries."
