London Borough of Barking & Dagenham (21 006 016)
Category : Environment and regulation > Other
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 14 Sep 2021
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about the Council’s response to his reports of broken glass on the pavement. This is because the Council has now removed the glass and so we could not achieve anything more. We will not investigate the way the Council dealt with Mr X’s complaint as a standalone issue.
The complaint
- The complainant, whom I shall refer to as Mr X, complained to the Council about broken glass on the pavement. The Council said it had removed the glass. Mr X contacted the Council to say the road had been swept, but not the pavement. Mr X complained to the Ombudsman because he had not received a response.
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 effect on the person making the complaint, which we call ‘injustice’. We provide a free service, but must use public money carefully. We may decide not to start an investigation if the tests set out in our Assessment Code are not met. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)
How I considered this complaint
- I considered information provided by Mr X and the Council.
- I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
- In response to my enquiries the Council confirmed it had returned to the site to remove the glass from the pavement. It accepted it had not responded to Mr X’s complaint.
- Because the matter is now resolved we will not investigate. There is nothing further we could achieve. I understand Mr X is unhappy with how the Council dealt with his complaint. But it is not a good use of public resources to investigate complaint handling as a standalone issue if we are not going to investigate the issue which led to the original complaint. This is the case here.
Final decision
- We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because we could not achieve anything more.
Investigator’s decision on behalf of the Ombudsman
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman