Southampton City Council (24 008 601)
Category : Environment and regulation > Other
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 02 Oct 2024
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint about the Council not maintaining a park area to the front of her property. This is because there is no sign of fault by the Council.
The complaint
- The complainant, Mrs X, complains the Council is not maintaining a park area to the front of her property. Mrs X says the grass has not been cut, the bins are overflowing and there is a lot of dog mess.
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 do not start an investigation if we decide the tests set out in our Assessment Code are not met. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)
- We do not start an investigation if we decide:
- there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating, or
- we could not add to any previous investigation by the organisation. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))
How I considered this complaint
- I considered information provided by the complainant.
- I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
- Mrs X complained to the Council that it is not maintaining a park area to the front of her property.
- The Council informed Mrs X it is private land which is not adopted by the Council. It is not responsible for maintaining it. It said it did not hold details of who owned the land however this could be obtained from the Land Registry. It provided Mrs X with the contact details for the Land Registry Office.
- We will not investigate this complaint. This is because there is no sign of fault by the Council. It has confirmed it is private land, which it has not adopted and so it is not responsible for maintaining it. There is nothing further we could add to the response the Council has already provided on the matter. It is open to Mrs X to make the relevant checks to the Land Registry to ascertain who owns the land and who is responsible for maintaining it.
Final decision
- We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint because there is insufficient evidence of fault by the Council to warrant an investigation.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman