Summary: We will not investigate Miss X’s complaint about the Council’s decision to issue her with a community protection warning and the behaviour of an officer during the investigation. This is because there is insufficient evidence of fault in the Council’s actions.

The complaint

1. Miss X complains about a Council decision to issue her with a Community Protection Warning related to activity she undertakes protecting wildlife.
2. Miss X also complains about the Council’s actions during the investigation. She says an officer turned up unannounced and was unprofessional during the visit.
3. Miss X says the matter has caused distress. She wants the Council to close the case and allow her to continue to protect local wildlife.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

4. 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
• 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

5. I considered information provided by the complainant.
6. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

7. Miss X complains the Council has unfairly issued her with a Community Protection Warning (CPW) related to her efforts to protect local wildlife. In its complaint response, the Council explained how it had investigated her case and what Miss X needs to do for the matter to be resolved. We will not investigate this. The decision to issue a CPW to Miss X is the Council’s decision to make and there is insufficient evidence of fault in how the Council came to that decision. It has appropriately explained its reasons to Miss X and what she needs to do to prevent any further escalation.
8. Miss X says when the Council were investigating the matter, the Council officer attended unannounced at her property to discuss the matter. The Council acknowledged this was the case. It said to improve its service moving forward, it would consider creating a formal visit procedure for officers to follow. We will not investigate this as it is unlikely we would achieve anything further.
9. Miss X says the Council officer acted unprofessionally during the visit. The Council officer refutes this and provides a different account. Given there is conflicting views and no independent evidence of what happened, it is unlikely we would be able to make sound finding. We will not investigate this matter further.

Final decision

10. We will not investigate Miss X’s complaint because there is insufficient evidence of fault in the Council’s actions and an investigation would not achieve anything further.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman