Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about leaves, litter, dumped furniture and groups of teenagers hanging around a service road for local shops. The alleged faults have not caused a significant enough injustice.

The complaint

1. In short, Mr X complains about a build-up of leaves, litter, dumped furniture and teenagers hanging around a service road for local shops.
2. Mr X says it has become embarrassing to live in his area, and the Council is ignoring his concerns.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
4. We can investigate 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. So, we do not start an investigation if we decide:

• any fault has not caused injustice to the person who complained, or
• any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement, or

(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))

5. With regard to the bullet points above, our role is to consider complaints where the person bringing the complaint has suffered significant personal injustice as a direct result of the actions or inactions of the organisation. This means we will normally only investigate a complaint where the complainant has suffered serious loss, harm, or distress as a direct result of faults or failures. We will not normally investigate a complaint where the alleged loss or injustice is not a serious or significant matter.

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How I considered this complaint

6. I considered information provided by Mr X and the Council, which included information about when Mr X reported matters to the Council since 2023 .
7. I also considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

8. Previously the Council apologised for its highways cleansing crews missing out the service road complained of in 2023. It said the road would be placed on the schedule for fortnightly cleaning.
9. Mr X has provided some responses from the Council to his emails. For example, in April 2024 the Council said the road would be put on the list for ‘reactive cleaning’. And in November 2024, the Council responded to Mr X to say that its ‘leafing programme’ was underway and would firstly focus on clearing leaves from those roads with trees.
10. I understand Mr X remains concerned about the state of the service road. However, the Ombudsman needs to make sure we use public money effectively.
11. We will not investigate. The level of injustice complained of is not significant enough to justify starting an investigation.

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Final decision

12. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because the alleged faults have not caused a significant enough injustice.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman