Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint that the Council has failed to properly maintain a churchyard. This is because the Council’s actions have not caused Mr X significant injustice.

The complaint

1. The complainant, Mr X, complains the Council has failed to properly maintain a local churchyard as required under Section 215 of the Local Government Act 1972. He says the Council’s wilful neglect of this and other churchyards causes him distress, makes it difficult to visit and exacerbates the possibility of visitors tripping and falling.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’, which we call ‘fault’. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse impact on the person making the complaint, which we call ‘injustice’. We provide a free service, but must use public money carefully. We do not start or continue an investigation if we decide:

• there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating, or
• any fault has not caused injustice to the person who complained, or
• any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement, or
• we could not add to any previous investigation by the organisation, or
• further investigation would not lead to a different outcome.

(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))

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How I considered this complaint

3. I considered information provided by Mr X and the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

4. The Council confirms it has a duty to maintain the churchyard and that it has made a service level agreement with relevant stakeholders to ensure they are properly maintained. Mr X is unhappy with the agreement and believes the Council must do more. He also complains the Council has failed to maintain the churchyard in accordance with the agreement.
5. We do not investigate all the complaints we receive. In deciding whether to investigate we need to consider various tests. These include the alleged injustice to the person complaining. We only investigate the most serious complaints.
6. I appreciate Mr X is concerned about the state of the churchyards but there is nothing in the legislation that specifically says the Council must do more and it is not for us to interpret the law in this way. I have seen several images of the churchyard in question which show the Council has cut the grass and while the work may not be to the standard Mr X would like I do not consider the shortfall between what the Council has agreed/carried out and what Mr X would like is a significant enough injustice to warrant investigation.

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Final decision

7. We will not investigate this complaint. This is because the Council’s actions have not caused Mr X significant injustice.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman