Summary: Miss B complains about the Council’s lack of litter picking before it cuts grass near her home. She says the Council cuts the litter into even smaller pieces further polluting the environment and making it dangerous for residents. The Ombudsman will not investigate this complaint. This is because an investigation is unlikely to find fault causing Miss B a significance personal injustice.

The complaint

1. Miss B complains about Councils lack of litter picking before it cuts grass. She says the Council cuts the litter into even smaller pieces further polluting the environment and making it dangerous for residents.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. 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 injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement.

(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

3. I considered Miss B’s complaints to the Council and its responses to her. Miss B had an opportunity to comment on my draft decision. I considered any comments received before making a final decision.

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What I found

4. Miss B lives in a town where the Council maintains the watercourse.
5. She is not happy with the procedure used by the Council and she says that it worsens the existing pollution issue.
6. She thinks the Council staff should carry out hand litter picking before they cut the grass to avoid shredding the litter and spreading it further around the area.
7. She says that despite Council assurances that it instructed its staff to litter pick this is not happening, and it is making the area of watercourse dangerous for the residents and their pets. She further states that her dog suffered and injury because of the litter.

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Assessment

8. Miss B says the area poses danger to residents who choose to visit it. This means that any potential impact from litter along the watercourse is the same for all residents and is not personal to her.
9. The Ombudsman’s role is to consider complaints of maladministration and service failure causing injustice. We will not investigate matters without significant personal injustice caused by the alleged fault.
10. Miss B says that her dog injured his paw on a piece of metal and/or glass strewn over the local watercourse. If Miss B feels there has been financial loss because of the injury, she can make a claim against the Councils insurance.
11. While I understand Miss B is not satisfied with the assurances form the Council, it cannot be held responsible for the actions of the public. It has confirmed that its workers are instructed to pick large pieces of litter before any grass cutting begins.
12. Based on all the above I believe it is unlikely that we would find fault in Council’s actions that have caused Miss B a significant injustice.

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Final decision

The Ombudsman will not investigate this complaint. This is because an investigation is unlikely to find fault causing Miss B a significance personal injustice.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman