Dudley Metropolitan Borough Council (19 003 925)

Statement Closed after initial enquiries Refuse and recycling 26-Nov-2019

Summary: Mr X complained about the Council’s failure to remove rubbish from land adjacent to his property boundary. The Ombudsman cannot investigate this complaint. This is because the land belongs to a social housing landlord and complaints about the management of this land are outside the Ombudsman’s jurisdiction.

Aylesbury Vale District Council (19 011 057)

Statement Closed after initial enquiries Refuse and recycling 25-Nov-2019

Summary: The Ombudsman will not investigate this complaint about a missed garden waste collection because there is insufficient evidence of injustice.

Birmingham City Council (19 004 932)

Statement Upheld Refuse and recycling 25-Nov-2019

Summary: Mr X complains the Council has repeatedly failed to collect his household waste on the scheduled day or in a timely manner when they are missed. The Council’s repeated failure to make regular household waste collections since October 2018 amounts to fault. This fault has caused Mr X an injustice.

Rossendale Borough Council (19 005 806)

Statement Not upheld Refuse and recycling 25-Nov-2019

Summary: Mr X complained about problems with his assisted refuse collection service. He also complained the Council will not allow him to report or complain about this by phone, despite agreeing to do so because of our earlier investigation. We find no fault by the Council. It will accept reports of missed bins and service complaints by phone where someone is unable to do so in writing. It has responded appropriately to the only report of a missed collection it has recorded that Mr X has made since our previous decision.

City of Wolverhampton Council (19 010 761)

Statement Closed after initial enquiries Refuse and recycling 22-Nov-2019

Summary: Mr X complains the Council is failing to follow the cleansing schedule for a major A road close to where he lives. The Ombudsman will not investigate this complaint as we do not consider that Mr X has suffered a personal injustice because of the Council’s actions. And we are unlikely to find fault in the Councils actions.

Birmingham City Council (19 004 836)

Statement Upheld Refuse and recycling 22-Nov-2019

Summary: Mrs X complains the Council has repeatedly failed to empty the communal bins servicing neighbouring properties as scheduled. The Council’s repeated failure to make scheduled collections from the communal bins amounts to fault. As does the Council’s failure to address Mrs X’s complaints and resolve the problem. These faults have caused Mrs X an injustice.

London Borough of Harrow (19 004 700)

Statement Upheld Refuse and recycling 19-Nov-2019

Summary: the complainant says the Council delayed registering an application for an assisted bin collection service and failed to collect bins as arranged or return them causing inconvenience and distress. The Council recognises it missed collections and offered a partial refund of the garden refuse service fee. The Ombudsman finds the Council at fault in its management of the waste collection service for the complainant.

Birmingham City Council (19 004 252)

Statement Upheld Refuse and recycling 18-Nov-2019

Summary: Mr X complains the Council has repeatedly failed to collect his recycling on the scheduled days, or in a timely manner when collections are missed, for approximately eight months. The Council’s repeated failure to collect Mr X’s recycling amounts to fault. As does the Council’s failure to resolve the problem. These faults have caused Mr X an injustice.

City of York Council (19 004 658)

Statement Upheld Refuse and recycling 18-Nov-2019

Summary: The Council missed several recycling waste collections at the complainant’s property, which is fault and a minor injustice. However, the Council has taken steps to resolve the problem, and there is no evidence it is endemic or ongoing. The Ombudsman has therefore completed his investigation.

London Borough of Merton (19 005 610)

Statement Upheld Refuse and recycling 18-Nov-2019

Summary: The Ombudsman found fault on Mr P’s complaint of the Council failing to promptly collect and empty communal bins. The records show many missed collections. It failed to take effective action to prevent them recurring. The agreed action remedies the injustice caused. There was no fault on the complaint about failing to tell residents it was no longer emptying blue bins communal store. While it failed to properly investigate his complaint at stage 1 of its complaints procedure, it did so properly at stage 2. This caused no avoidable injustice.