Summary: Mr B complains about the Council’s actions in issuing him with a Community Protection Notice. The Ombudsman will not investigate the complaint because Mr B had the right to appeal against the Notice in the Magistrates’ Court and so the complaint falls outside our jurisdiction.

The complaint

1. The complainant, who I refer to as Mr B, complains about the Council’s decision to issue him with a Community Protection Notice (CPN) and about the service the Council provided to him. He says Council actions amounted to the bullying of his agent.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
3. The law says we cannot normally investigate a complaint when someone could take the matter to court. However, we may decide to investigate if we consider it would be unreasonable to expect the person to go to court. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(6)(c), as amended)
4. We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. In this statement, I have used the word ‘fault’ to refer to these. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse impact on the person making the complaint. I refer to this as ‘injustice’. We provide a free service but must use public money carefully. We may decide not to start or continue with an investigation if we believe:

• it is unlikely we would find fault, or
• the fault has not caused injustice to the person who complained, or
• the injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement, or
• it is unlikely we could add to any previous investigation by the Council, or
• it is unlikely further investigation will lead to a different outcome, or
• we cannot achieve the outcome someone wants. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

5. In considering the complaint I reviewed the information provided by Mr B and the Council. I gave Mr B the opportunity to comment on my draft decision.

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What I found

6. Mr B owns a property which he rents out to tenants. He uses an agent to act for him.
7. The Council issued a CPN to the property owners in relation to the accumulation of rubbish at the property. Councils can issue CPNs to prevent anti-social behaviour which is having a detrimental effect on the community's quality of life. A CPN can be appealed in the Magistrates' Court within 21 days of issue if the recipient disagrees with a council’s decision to issue it.
8. Mr B complained to the Council about its issuing of the CPN and associated matters. The Council responded in detail to the issues Mr B raised but found no fault in how it had handled the case and it did not uphold his complaint.

Assessment

9. The restriction highlighted at paragraph 3 of this statement applies to Mr B’s complaint. As he had the right to appeal against the CPN to the courts, and we would reasonably expect him to have used this alternative remedy, the complaint falls outside our jurisdiction and will not be investigated.
10. There are no secondary issues associated with the issuing of the CPN which warrant investigation by the Ombudsman.

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Final decision

11. The Ombudsman will not investigate this complaint. This is because Mr B had the right to appeal against the Notice in the Magistrates’ Court and so the complaint falls outside our jurisdiction.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman