Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s decision to not take enforcement action to remove invasive plants. There is no evidence of Mrs X suffering a significant injustice and there is no worthwhile outcome achievable by our involvement.

The complaint

1. Mrs X complained the Council refused to take enforcement action about invasive plants on land close to her home.
2. Mrs X said this restricted the communities access to the land and the plant posed various environmental risks.
3. Mrs X wants the Ombudsman to tell the Council it should take enforcement action, or to remove the plants itself.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

4. We 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. We do not start or continue an investigation if we decide:

• any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement, or
• there is no worthwhile outcome achievable by our investigation.

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

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How I considered this complaint

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

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My assessment

7. Mrs X said there is an invasive plant growing on privately owned land close to her home. Mrs X asked the Council to take enforcement action.
8. In its response, the Council said it could not take enforcement action and explained its reasoning for this position.
9. We will not normally investigate a complaint unless there is good reason to believe that the complainant has suffered significant personal injustice as a direct result of the actions or inactions of the Council.
10. There is no evidence to suggest Mrs X has suffered a significant injustice, which would meet the threshold for a full Ombudsman investigation because of the Council's actions here.
11. In any case, we could not tell the Council it should take enforcement action or remove the plants itself. Therefore, there is no worthwhile outcome achievable by our involvement.
12. For these reasons, we will not investigate this complaint.

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Final decision

13. We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint because there is no evidence she has suffered a significant injustice and there is no worthwhile outcome achievable by our involvement.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman