Summary: We will not investigate this complaint that the Council failed to deal with the complainants report of a statutory nuisance. This is because there is no evidence of fault in how the Council dealt with the matter.

The complaint

1. The complainant, who I will call Mrs X, complains about how the Council dealt with her report that walkways around the perimeter of a playing field are not maintained. She says this is a statutory nuisance which stops people from enjoying an open space. Mrs X also complains about how the Council dealt with a Freedom of Information (FoI) request she submitted and how it dealt with her complaint.

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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))
3. The Information Commissioner's Office considers complaints about freedom of information. Its decision notices may be appealed to the First Tier Tribunal (Information Rights). So where we receive complaints about freedom of information, we normally consider it reasonable to expect the person to refer the matter to the Information Commissioner.

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How I considered this complaint

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

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My assessment

6. Mrs X complained to the Council that a school is failing to maintain walkways around a playing field it leases from the Council. Mrs X said this was a statutory nuisance, and that the Council should act.
7. The Council told Mrs X that the issue could not be considered as a statutory nuisance as it did not consider that it met the criteria, as detailed in the Environmental Protection Act 1990.
8. The Council also explained why it did not consider that it had the power to take action under any other legislation. It detailed the relevant legislation and explained why it had concluded that it could not act.
9. I will not investigate this complaint because there is no evidence of fault in how the Council dealt with the matter. Whilst I understand that Mrs X is disappointed with the Council’s decision, we cannot question the merits of that decision when there is no evidence of fault in how the decision was reached.
10. I will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint that the Council did not respond to her FoI request. This is because it is reasonable for her to complain to the Information Commissioner who is better placed to consider such matters.
11. Finally, I will not investigate how the Council dealt with complaints about the issues that Mrs X has raised. It is not good use of public funds to investigate complaint handling when not investigating the substantive issues.

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Final decision

12. We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint because there is insufficient evidence of fault.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman