Summary: We shall not investigate this complaint about the Council’s actions concerning two street planters. The matter did not cause Miss X significant enough injustice to warrant the Ombudsman devoting time and public money to investigation.

The complaint

1. Miss X complains about the Council’s actions regarding some street planters. She states this has affected the area’s amenity and she also cites the effort she had made to look after the planters.

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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 the fault has not caused injustice to the person who complained, or the injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)
3. We cannot investigate something that affects all or most of the people in a council’s area. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(7), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

4. I considered the information Miss X provided and online images of the area. I gave Miss the opportunity to comment on my draft decision. Miss X accepted the draft decision.

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What I found

5. The complaint is about two Council-owned street planters that were by the pavement on a main road. Miss X’s home is in a nearby street, around 150 metres from the planters. I understand Miss X has been involved in local initiatives including looking after street planters.
6. Miss X states the Council agreed to move the planters slightly, to a position she considered preferable, but then denied making such a commitment and moved them to a different area, not near her home. She states the site where the planters used to be now looks worse and attracts rubbish. Miss X is also unhappy the Council did not offer her the opportunity to look after the planters if they had remained at their previous location.
7. Miss X states that during the COVID-19 lockdowns she looked after the planters herself, apparently expecting them either to remain where they were or only to move slightly. She states when she was looking after the planters, she spent about £50 as well as going to the time and trouble of growing items to put in the planters and taking care of the planters.
8. As paragraph 2 explained, we will only pursue a complaint where the Council’s alleged fault has disadvantaged the person complaining significantly enough ot justify us devoting time and public money to investigation.
9. The effect on Miss X includes her disappointment that the planters have moved, the importance she attaches to the planters and her concern that the area where the planters were now looks less attractive. I recognise Miss X’s concern about those points. However, in the context of relatively small planters some distance from Miss X’s home, I do not consider those points amount to a significant enough disadvantage to Miss X to warrant the Ombudsman investigating whether the Council was at fault.
10. I acknowledge Miss X’s points about spending about £50 plus her time dealing with matters related to the planters during the lockdowns. However, I those actions of Miss X’s do not appear to have resulted directly from any fault by the Council. I also do not consider they represent a significant enough level of injustice to warrant the Ombudsman investigating the matter.
11. Miss X also believes the Council has plans for the local high street but says she and local residents have not been consulted and do not know the plans. She would like the Council to explain what the plans are and whom it has consulted. It is not the Ombudsman’s role to gather information in such circumstances. As Miss X does not know what the Council’s plans might be, she has not shown that they will cause her any significant injustice. Miss X says the plans will be paid for from her council tax. However, the effect on the council tax would not affect Miss X any more than it would affect most other residents of Liverpool, so the restriction in paragraph 3 applies. For these reasons I shall not pursue this point.

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Final decision

12. We shall not investigate this complaint. This is mainly because the matters complained of did not cause Miss X significant enough injustice to warrant investigation.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman