Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about the Council not acting to get a dog waste bin moved away from a children’s play area. There is insufficient significant personal injustice to Mr X from the matters complained of to justify us investigating.

The complaint

1. Mr X complains the Council has refused to take action to move a dog waste bin away from a children’s play area in one of its parks.
2. He says he has serious concerns over public risk to health, including blindness in children caused by dog waste. Mr X says he is worried the Council has not been able to recognise the seriousness of the issue, despite him pursuing the matter.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

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

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

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How I considered this complaint

4. I considered information from Mr X and the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

5. In response to Mr X’s concerns, the Council said the dog waste bin’s location did not require planning permission and officers could not take action to get it moved. Officers suggested Mr X contact the developer which owns the land, or the land’s management company which maintains it.
6. Even in the event there has been Council fault, we will not investigate. Mr X lives about 200 miles away from the park. Even if he were in the park daily, the type of bin and its location cause no significant personal injustice to him. We understand Mr X worries about possible health impacts for others from the bin and he is concerned the Council has not been able to recognise the seriousness of the issue. Mr X’s worries and concerns here do not amount to a significant personal injustice to him which justifies us investigating. We note Mr X spent time and effort pursuing the matter with the Council. But it was his decision do so on an issue which has insufficiently significant impact on him.
7. There is no report of the bin having caused health problems for other people. We cannot consider incidents which have not happened as injustices, and any health issues to others would not be a personal injustice to Mr X.

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Final decision

8. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because there is insufficient significant personal injustice to him from the matters complained of to warrant investigation.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman