Summary: The Ombudsman will not investigate Mr B’s complaint the Council has refused his request for a larger bin. Further consideration of the complaint is unlikely to find fault with the way the Council has made its decision.

The complaint

1. The complainant, whom I shall call Mr B, complains the Council has refused his request for a larger bin even though he is prepared to pay for this. Mr B says his bin is not large enough and he has to stamp the rubbish down which is a health and safety issue.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. We investigate complaints of injustice caused by ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. I have used the word ‘fault’ to refer to these. We cannot question whether a council’s decision is right or wrong simply because the complainant disagrees with it. We must consider whether there was fault in the way the decision was reached. (Local Government Act 1974, section 34(3), as amended)
3. We provide a free service but must use public money carefully. We may decide not to start or continue with an investigation if we believe:

• it is unlikely we would find fault, or
• it is unlikely we could add to any previous investigation by the Council, or
• it is unlikely further investigation will lead to a different outcome, or
• we cannot achieve the outcome someone wants (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

4. I considered the information Mr B provided and the Council’s response to his complaints. I sent a draft decision to Mr B and invited comments before I made my final decision.

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What I found

5. Mr B has a family of four. He says his rubbish bin is not large enough for the household waste and the dog waste from his own animals and other dogs whose owners do not pick up after them. Mr B has offered to pay the cost of a larger bin, but the Council has refused.
6. While Mr B disagrees with the Council’s decision, the Ombudsman can only criticise the Council if its decision was made with fault. Further consideration of the complaint is unlikely to find fault because the Council has considered its policy for providing larger bins (normally only where there are 6 or more people in the household), whether it should provide an exception for Mr B and has explained the reasons why it will not. The Council has suggested Mr B use dog waste or litter bins on his walking route rather than his domestic bin to reduce the amount of dog waste he is placing in his own bin. When Mr B said he did not pass close to any dog waste bins, the Council has invited him to put forward suggestions for where he thinks such bins could be located.

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Final decision

7. The Ombudsman will not investigate this complaint. This is because further consideration of the complaint is unlikely to find fault by the Council.

Investigator’s final decision on behalf of the Ombudsman

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman