Surrey County Council (19 016 630)

Statement Closed after initial enquiries Trees 19-Feb-2020

Summary: The Ombudsman will not investigate this complaint that a Council-owned tree is causing damage to the complainant’s property. This is because there is insufficient evidence of administrative fault in the way the Council reached its decision to retain the tree, and it is reasonable to expect the complainant to pursue court action if she believes the Council is liable for the damage.

South Holland District Council (19 012 763)

Statement Closed after initial enquiries Noise 19-Feb-2020

Summary: The Ombudsman will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint that the Council has failed to properly deal with her complaints of noise nuisance. Any complaint about the Council’s actions prior to October 2018 are late and it is unlikely we would find fault in the Council’s decision not to take formal action.

Welwyn Hatfield Borough Council (19 016 020)

Statement Closed after initial enquiries Refuse and recycling 19-Feb-2020

Summary: The Ombudsman will not investigate Mr B’s complaint about the Council’s failure to make later collections from recycling bins close to his home. This is because there is no evidence of fault by the Council sufficient to warrant an investigation and an investigation is unlikely to lead to a different outcome.

Dartford Borough Council (19 016 272)

Statement Closed after initial enquiries Noise 19-Feb-2020

Summary: The Ombudsman will not investigate this complaint that the Council did not properly investigate the complainant’s reports of noise nuisance. This is because there is insufficient evidence of fault by the Council.

Birmingham City Council (19 008 571)

Statement Upheld Refuse and recycling 18-Feb-2020

Summary: Miss X complains the Council repeatedly failed to collect the communal waste from her group of flats on the scheduled days or in a timely manner when collections are missed between December 2018 and August 2019. The Council’s repeated failure to collect the communal waste from the bin serving Miss X's block of flat amounts to fault. This fault has caused Miss X an injustice.

Birmingham City Council (19 009 270)

Statement Upheld Refuse and recycling 18-Feb-2020

Summary: Mrs X complains the Council has repeatedly failed to collect the recycling from her street on the scheduled days, leading to a significant accumulation of waste. The Council’s repeated failure to collect Mrs X’s recycling over several months amounts to fault. This fault has caused Mrs X an injustice.

Aylesbury Vale District Council (19 017 327)

Statement Closed after initial enquiries Refuse and recycling 18-Feb-2020

Summary: The Ombudsman will not investigate Ms B’s complaint about missed garden waste collections. This is because there is not enough evidence of significant personal injustice to warrant an investigation. Also, it is unlikely we could add anything to the Council’s response.

Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Council (19 016 069)

Statement Closed after initial enquiries Trees 18-Feb-2020

Summary: The Ombudsman will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about the Council accepting an application to cut down trees. This is because an investigation is unlikely to find fault causing significant injustice to Mr X.

Leeds City Council (19 006 063)

Statement Upheld Noise 17-Feb-2020

Summary: Mrs X complains about the Council’s handling of her report of neighbour noise nuisance. She says this affected both her physical and mental health. The Ombudsman has found the Council properly investigated her noise complaint before deciding there was insufficient evidence to take formal enforcement action. However, the Ombudsman has found some fault because the Council did not refer Mrs X to other agencies when it said it would. To remedy this, the Council has agreed to apologise and make these referrals.

Leeds City Council (19 014 000)

Statement Closed after initial enquiries Refuse and recycling 17-Feb-2020

Summary: The Ombudsman will not investigate this complaint about the behaviour of a Council officer. This is because an investigation is unlikely to enable us to establish whether there was fault.