Complaint outcomes: Other topics

This section covers complaints about:

• Cemeteries and crematoria, such as burial plots, crematoria management and condition of graveyards
• Consumer affairs, such as trading standards, trades description and consumer advice
• Contracts and business matters, such as contracts, tendering (but not the sale of land - see land below) Many complaints about these issues are outside the Ombudsman's jurisdiction
• Disposal on death, such as the treatment of a dead person or their possessions
• Drainage, such as drains, sewers, cesspits, septic tanks, flood prevention
• Land, such as:
  • sale and disposal of land
  • purchase of land
  • sites for travellers and gypsies
  • compulsory purchase
  • conveyancing and land searches
  • commons and village greens
  • council-owned land (including empty and abandoned sites)
• Leisure and culture, such as:
  • allotments and parks
  • community centres and youth clubs
  • libraries and museums
  • sport facilities
  • tourism
• Licensing, such as:
  • licences for alcohol, caravan sites, care homes, gambling, public entertainment and sex shops
  • licensing for council-owned premises
  • markets and street traders
  • taxis and private hire vehicles
• Registry services, such as:
  • registration of births, marriages and deaths
  • weddings and civil partnerships
  • treasure trove

Recent cases in this category are shown below.

Sefton Metropolitan Borough Council (06C15879 and one other - Further report)
The Council refused to apologise and pay compensation to two allotment holders whose complaints had been upheld by the LGO.

25 February 2010

Liverpool City C (08 012 171)
Failures in the tendering process for a large contract “exposed the Council to significant risks”.

25 November 2009

Portsmouth City Council (07B14737)
The Council advertised ice cream concessions for a 12-month period, but then granted licences to the successful bidders for three years, unfairly depriving another bidder of a business opportunity for two years.

09 December 2008

Basildon District Council (06A16993 + two others)
Refusal to remedy injustice to three families caused by the publication of sensitive information about children.

12 November 2008

Northampton Borough Council (06B15314 and 12 others)
Fundamental errors from the outset in project to refurbish an approved gypsy and traveller site.

04 August 2008