Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s handling of Mr X’s reports or noise and littering by his neighbours. This is because there is not enough evidence of fault by the Council and it is unlikely investigation would achieve any worthwhile outcome for Mr X.

The complaint

1. Mr X complains about the Council’s handling of his noise nuisance complaint and about its failure to deal with his reports of dog fouling and razor blades/sharps being dropped in a car park. He says it was difficult to contact the Council to discuss his concerns and he is unhappy the Council contacted his neighbour to tell them it had closed the case.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’, which we call ‘fault’. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse effect 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 an investigation if we decide the tests set out in our Assessment Code are not met. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

3. I considered information provided by Mr X and the Council.
4. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

5. We are not an appeal body. This means we do not take a second look at a decision to decide if it was wrong. Instead, we look at the processes an organisation followed to make its decision. If we consider it followed those processes correctly we cannot question whether the decision was right or wrong, even though a complainant may disagree with it.
6. The Council has explained the actions it took to investigate Mr X’s complaints and the reasons why it decided to close his case. These are consistent with the relevant legislation and are neither irrational nor perverse. The Council did not have to respond to every contact Mr X made and I cannot say that any failure to respond to Mr X, whether fault or not, wrongly affected its decision on his case.
7. While I appreciate Mr X disagrees with the Council’s view and believes it should have done more, we have no power to overrule its decision or say the Council must take further action against the judgement of its officers.

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Final decision

8. We will not investigate this complaint. This is because there is not enough evidence of fault by the Council and it is unlikely further investigation would achieve any worthwhile outcome for Mr X.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman