Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about how the Council responded to concerns about overflowing waste. We are unlikely to find fault with the Council.

The complaint

1. Miss X complains the Council did not act on her reports about overflowing bins and waste on her housing estate. Miss X wants the Council to take enforcement action against the property managers.

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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 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 there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))

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How I considered this complaint

2. I considered information provided by the complainant.
3. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

4. Under the Environmental Protection Act 1990, the Council is responsible for collecting household waste and for investigating and managing environmental health issues. In a privately owned residential block, such as where Miss X lives, responsibility for managing communal bins and waste areas typically rests with the landlord or property manager.
5. Miss X complained to the Council about overflowing communal bins and fly tipping around those bins. The Council investigated Miss X’s concerns by visiting the site. Though the Council saw evidence of overflowing waste, it decided the situation did not meet the threshold to amount to an environmental health breach that needed enforcement action. It decided a proportionate response would be to remove the overflowing waste and did so.
6. The Ombudsman is not an appeal body. This means we do not take a second look at a decision to decide if it was wrong. Instead, we look at the processes an organisation followed to make its decision. If we consider it followed those processes correctly, we cannot question whether the decision was right or wrong. We are unlikely to find fault with how the Council came to its decision, so we cannot question it.
7. I have seen no evidence of fault in how the Council collects waste from Miss X’s residential block, or that the Council has, in any other way, failed to meet its duties under the Environmental Protection Act 1990.
8. The Council told Miss X the condition of the bin storage area was the property manager’s responsibility. The Council advised Miss X to raise her concerns about the bins with the property manager, and that it would consider any request from the property manager for extra bins. We are unlikely to find fault with the Council for how it responded to Miss X’s concerns.

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Final decision

9. We will not investigate Miss X’s complaint because we are unlikely to find fault with the Council.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman