Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about how the Council dealt with reports of litter problems near to the complainants home. This is because there is insufficient evidence of fault in how the Council responded.

The complaint

1. The complainant, who I will call Mr C, complains about how the Council has dealt with his reports of littering close to his home.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. The Ombudsman investigates 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 may decide not to continue with an investigation if we decide there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6))

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How I considered this complaint

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

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My assessment

5. Mr C complained to the Council about litter and fly tipped waste in outside areas close to his home. In responding to Mr C’s reports, the Council provided details of its cleaning schedule to Mr C and a map showing areas the Council is responsible for maintaining and areas a Housing Association is responsible for.
6. The Council carried out visits to the area and agreed that some improvements could be made to areas it was responsible for, it subsequently carried out these works and took photographs before and after the work.
7. The Council told Mr C how he could contact the Housing Association about rubbish on land that it was responsible for, it also contacted the Housing Association to highlight issues raised by Mr C and provided photos of fly tipped waste which was subsequently removed by the Housing Association.
8. I will not investigate Mr C’s complaint. This is because there is insufficient evidence of fault in how the Council has responded to his reports. It has provided information to Mr C, it has visited the site and carried out work to areas it is responsible for and has communicated appropriately with the Housing Association responsible for other areas.

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Final decision

9. We will not investigate Mr C’s complaint because there is insufficient evidence of fault.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman