Summary: Mr X complains the Council has failed to complete street cleaning in his and surrounding streets. Mr X says this causes a blockage when heavy rain occurs and is very frustrating. We have found no fault in the actions of the Council.

The complaint

1. Mr X complains the Council has failed to complete street cleaning in his and surrounding streets.
2. Mr X says this causes a blockage when heavy rain occurs and is very frustrating.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. 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’. If there has been fault which has caused significant injustice, or that could cause injustice to others in the future we may suggest a remedy. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26(1) and 26A(1), as amended)
4. If we are satisfied with an organisation’s actions or proposed actions, we can complete our investigation and issue a decision statement. (Local Government Act 1974, section 30(1B) and 34H(i), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

5. I have read Mr X’s complaint and discussed it with him over the telephone.
6. I have considered the information provided by the Council in response to my enquiries.
7. Both Mr X and the Council were invited to provide comments on my draft decision. Any comments received were be considered before a final decision was issued.

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What I found

8. The Environment Act 1990 says it is the responsibility of each local authority to ensure the highway or road is, so far as is practicable, kept clean.
9. Landowners are normally expected to make provision for their own drainage and any damage caused by run-off from the highway would be a civil matter, which would involve the affected owner submitting a claim against the highway authority.

What happened

10. The Councils website says it sweeps roads on a daily, weekly, fortnightly or four-weekly basis. It says busy high streets are swept more regularly than a quiet residential area.
11. Mr X contacted the Council around six times in 2023 to request for street cleaning as he says the Council had not completed it.
12. Mr X complained to the Council in May 2023 after raising a request for street cleaning. Mr X said the Council did not complete the street clean to the standard he would expect. He said leaves were falling off the trees and clogging the drains on the road.
13. The Council responded to his complaint in September 2023 and said it regularly removed litter and fly tipping from the area.
14. Mr X responded to say the Council do not complete street cleaning as they should and the last time the road was swept was around 10 months previously.
15. Mr X asked the Council to escalate his complaint to stage two in December 2023.
16. The Council responded in January 2024 and said it visited the road regularly to monitor it.
17. The Council has confirmed it does not have a policy for street cleansing as it is not a statutory service. It says it aims to complete a street clean in Mr X’s area once a week, but this is subject to change.
18. The Council has provided evidence it has addressed Mr X’s request for street cleaning when he raised them between April and November 2023.

Analysis

19. The Ombudsman’s role is to review how councils have made decisions. We may criticise a council if, for example, it has not followed an appropriate procedure, not taken into account relevant information, or failed to properly explain why it has made a decision. We call this ‘administrative fault’, and if we find it, we can consider what difference the fault may have made to the outcome, and ask the council in question to remedy it.
20. However, we are not an appeal body; we do not have the power to overturn council decisions or replace them with our own. If a council has made a decision without fault, then we cannot criticise it, no matter how strongly someone disagrees with that decision. We do not uphold complaints simply because somebody feels a council should have acted differently in a particular situation.
21. The Council does not have a policy for street cleansing and its website does not confirm how often it cleans each area.
22. Street cleaning is not a statutory service and while the Council aims to complete this, it is a service which the Council can revoke.
23. The Council has addressed the reports Mr X has raised with it and says it is monitoring the area. It has also confirmed it has not received any other requests for street cleaning from other residents.
24. The Council has shown it considered the information from Mr X and how it decided what action to take when he raised issues. I appreciate Mr X would like the Council to do more, but there is not statutory duty for it to do so. It remains at the Council’s discretion how and when to act. There is no fault by the Council in failing to take further action.

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Final decision

25. I have found no fault in the actions of the Council.

Investigator’s final decision on behalf of the Ombudsman

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman