Birmingham City Council (18 006 045)

Category : Environment and regulation > Refuse and recycling

Decision : Upheld

Decision date : 26 Jun 2019

The Ombudsman's final decision:

Summary: Mr X complains the Council has repeatedly failed to clear and take appropriate or effective action to resolve the problem of fly-tipping on his street and has failed to maintain regular street cleaning. He also complains the Council repeatedly failed to collect his household waste on the scheduled days. There is fault in the way the Council has responded to Mr X’s reports of dumped waste and requests for street cleaning. The Council’s the failure to monitor the dumped waste and its collection or take effective action to address the problem also amounts to fault. This fault has caused Mr X an injustice.

The complaint

  1. The complaint whom I shall refer to as Mr X complains the Council has repeatedly failed to clear and take appropriate or effective action to resolve the problem of fly-tipping and refuse left on his street and has failed to maintain regular street cleaning.
  2. Mr X also complains the Council repeatedly failed to collect his household waste on the scheduled days.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

  1. We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. In this statement, I have used the word fault to refer to these. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse impact on the person making the complaint. I refer to this as ‘injustice’. If there has been fault which has caused an injustice, we may suggest a remedy. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26(1) and 26A(1), as amended)
  2. If we are satisfied with a council’s actions or proposed actions, we can complete our investigation and issue a decision statement. (Local Government Act 1974, section 30(1B) and 34H(i), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

  1. As part of the investigation, I have:
    • considered the complaint and the documents provided by Mr X;
    • made enquiries of the Council and considered the comments and documents the Council provided;
    • discussed the issues with Mr X; and
    • sent a statement setting out my draft decision to Mr X and the Council and invited their comments. I have considered Mr X’s response.

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What I found

Key facts

  1. The Environmental Protection Act 1990, sections 45 (1) and 45 A requires the Council to collect Mr X’s household waste and recycling. Mr X should have received a weekly household waste collection and a fortnightly recycling collection from his address.
  2. Fly-tipping is the dumping of rubbish on private or council owned land without permission. It is an offence which can lead to a fine of up to £50,000 or imprisonment.
  3. The Council’s website states that where dumped rubbish is on publicly owned land it aims to remove it as soon as possible, and will prioritise based on location, risk, ease of removal, and available resources. Where the Council has sufficient evidence, it will prosecute fly-tippers.
  4. According to the Council’s website all roads are usually swept on a daily, weekly, fortnightly or four weekly basis. With busy high streets being swept much more regularly than quiet residential roads.

What happened here

  1. Mr X states he has repeatedly reported missed waste collections and dumped rubbish on his street. This, together with a failure to carry out regular street cleaning means the street is filthy, with rubbish strewn over the pavement and road. He complains the Council has failed to address these issues. Mr X’s records show he reported missed collections, fly tipping and requested street cleaning 21 times over a six month period.
  2. The Council’s records show Mr X reported dumped waste/requested street cleaning 13 times between March 2018 and January 2019. The dates these reports were closed are inconsistent and do not suggest collections were made in a timely manner.
  3. For example, Mr X reported dumped waste on 29 March 2018 and the Council closed this report 33 days later, on 30 April 2018. Yet it closed a report from 20 April 2018 on 24 April 2018. If the Council had collected dumped waste from Mr X’s street on 24 April 2018 it should have been able to close the report from 29 March 2018 on that day too.
  4. Similarly, Mr X reported dumped waste on 22 May 2018 and the report was closed on 14 June 2018. But reports of dumped waste on 8 June, 10 June and 11 June 2018 were closed 26 June, 27 July and 26 June 2018 respectively. If the Council had collected waste from Mr X’s street on 14 June 2018 it would also have been able to close the reports from 8, 10 and 11 June 2018 on that day.
  5. A further example is a report of dumped waste made on 22 June 2018 which the Council closed 47 days later, on 8 August 2018. Given the Council closed two other reports of dumped waste on 26 June 2018, and a third on 27 July 2018, it is unclear why the report of 22 June 2018 was not closed until August 2018.
  6. These anomalies call into question the accuracy of the Council’s records.
  7. In June 2018 Mr X made a complaint about the dumped waste and regular missed collections. The Council’s response states its enforcement officers were investigating the waste left on the street and would issue fixed penalty notices on those they observe dropping litter. The Council also confirmed its waste prevention officers had carried out a door knocking exercise on Mr X’s street to educate residents about leaving black bags out on their street.
  8. The Council apologised for the missed collections and confirmed it had interviewed the collection crew and instructed them to ensure they carried out the regular collection service. The Council aimed to clear missed collections within three days.
  9. Mr X made a further complaint in late June 2018. He stated that waste collections were missed at least once a month, and that the street cleaner had not visited his street for six to eight weeks. Mr X asked the Council to investigate and remedy the lack of street cleaning and why their refuse collections were regularly missed.
  10. The Council advised it would make regular checks to ensure the scheduled collections were carried out and that all waste is cleared. Its service managers were visiting on collection day to ensure the waste was picked up. The Council also confirmed it would visit the shops at the ends of Mr X’s street to ensure there were appropriate measures in place for waste disposal. Officers would also visit to advise residents on how they could dispose of bulky items.
  11. In addition, the Council would reassess any properties previously considered unsuitable for wheelie bins to make any changes it could so that they could be offered wheelie bins.
  12. Mr X is unhappy that the problem of waste left on his street has not been resolved. He states the refuse is now collected on a regular basis, but dumped waste is still a problem and the streets are not routinely cleaned.
  13. On 8 January 2019 Mr X sent the Council photographs of the waste that had accumulated on his street. Officers’ notes of a visit on 9 January 2019, state the accumulated waste was legitimate rubbish from flats above the shops that had been presented before the scheduled collection day. They also note that by the time of their visit, the waste had been cleared as part of the scheduled waste collection.
  14. Mr X is concerned the Council is indifferent to the problem and has not done enough to address the source of the problem. He no longer reports waste left on his street. Mr X has asked the Ombudsman to investigate.
  15. In response to my enquiries the Council states it does not have any concerns about the performance of the refuse collection crew. The issue is that residents put out side-waste before their scheduled collection rather than waiting until the day it will be collected.
  16. The Council states waste management, who deal with fly tipping, have been heavily involved and matters have been referred to the waste enforcement unit. The Council’s records show it sent letters relating to side waste to four properties in April 2018 and carried out a door knocking exercise and provided advice on putting out bin bags to some properties in Mr X’s street in early June 2018.
  17. In addition, the Council states a beat sweeper cleans the street up to twice a week. It has provided photographs of Mr X’s street before and after the beat sweeper visited in July 2018.
  18. Internal communications between officers in July 2018 state that there is a serious concern about the number of fly tipping reports and issues with street cleansing. Since 2015 there have been at least three fly tipping reports each month. These communications also note that residents must take more responsibility for their area. An officer who visited in July 2018 notes that virtually every property in the street has a recycling bin, and that all but two of those they checked were contaminated. The Council sent letters to all properties in July 2018 regarding the correct use of recycling bins and the collection day.

Analysis

  1. The Council has not provided records of Mr X’s reports of missed refuse collections, but Mr X states collections were missed at a rate of around one a month. His complaints refer to a missed collection in March 2018 and two missed collections in June 2018. There does not appear to be a pattern to the missed collections, and this issue now seems to be resolved. Mr X has confirmed that his waste has been collected regularly since October 2018.
  2. It is clear from the Council’s records that Mr X has regularly reported waste left on his street and requested street cleaning. It is also clear that the Council has not always responded to these reports and requests in a timely manner. Its records are inconsistent around when Mr X’s reports of dumped waste were resolved.
  3. The Council is aware there is an issue with waste being left on Mr X’s street. Mr X states a senior officer advised him in May 2018 that the Council was developing a plan of engagement and enforcement for the area. It was also establishing local champions to work within the community and with the Council.
  4. Although it wrote to and spoke to some residents in June/ July 2018, it has not followed up on this, or carried out the action it told Mr X it would take. The Council has not carried out any monitoring of the dumped waste, or street cleaning on Mr X’s street, or made regular checks to ensure collections are made, and that all waste is collected.
  5. Nor is there any evidence the Council has reassessed whether changes can be made so that properties previously considered unsuitable for wheelie bins can now be offered them. Or that it visited the shops on the street to check their waste disposal arrangements or spoken to residents about the disposal of bulky items.
  6. The Council concluded the waste Mr X reported in January 2019 was legitimate residential waste presented early. As the waste had been cleared before officers visited it is unclear how they were able to establish this. But having concluded residents were still putting out bin bags before the scheduled collection day, the Council did not raise this with residents to try and prevent a reoccurrence.
  7. I consider the failure to respond to Mr X’s reports of dumped waste and requests for street cleaning in a timely manner amounts to fault. As does the failure to monitor the dumped waste and its collection or take action to address the problem.
  8. This fault has caused Mr X an injustice. He has experienced frustration and disappointment both with the continued accumulation of dumped waste and the failure to clear the waste in a timely manner. Mr X has also been put to unnecessary time and trouble in trying to resolve this matter.

Agreed action

  1. The Council has agreed to apologise to Mr X and pay him £100 in recognition of the frustration and disappointment he has experienced and the time and trouble he has been put to by the fault identified above.
  2. The Council should carry out this recommendation within one month of the final decision.
  3. The Council has also agreed to carry out a period of monitoring of the waste dumped in Mr X’s area to identify the root of the problem. The Council should then develop and implement a plan to address the problem.
  4. This monitoring should begin within one month of the final decision and continue for a period of three months. The Council should then provide the Ombudsman with details of its findings and plan to address the problem within one month of the monitoring concluding.

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Final decision

  1. There is fault in the way the Council has responded to Mr X’s reports of dumped waste and requests for street cleaning. The Council’s the failure to monitor the dumped waste and its collection or take effective action to address the problem also amounts to fault. This fault has caused Mr X an injustice.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman

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