London Borough of Ealing (25 023 789)
Category : Environment and regulation > Antisocial behaviour
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 17 Jun 2026
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s response to a report of Anti-social behaviour. It is unlikely we would find fault with the Council’s actions, and we cannot achieve the outcome X is looking for.
The complaint
- X complained because the Council declined to take any action after they reported a neighbour to it, and who they said was responsible for causing Anti-social behaviour (ASB). X said because of their age they are vulnerable and needed help.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
- 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
- we cannot achieve the outcome someone wants.
(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))
How I considered this complaint
- I considered information provided by the complainant and I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
- X wrote to the Council to complain about a neighbour. They said their neighbour had blocked access to a shared path and they wanted the Council to take action to address this.
- The Council wrote back to X and recommended they take legal advice, because both they and their neighbour were private homeowners and their concern was therefore a private dispute about access rights.
- I have considered the information, including photographs X provided to me about their concern. Accordingly, it is unlikely I would find fault the Council gave this advice and did not consider the matter to amount to ASB.
- In any case we could not direct the Council to act in the way X wants and so cannot achieve what is looking for.
Final decision
- We will not investigate X’s complaint because it is unlikely we would find fault and cannot achieve the outcome they are seeking.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman