Summary: The Ombudsman will not investigate this complaint about the Council not providing enough multi-use bins. This is because the Ombudsman is unlikely to find evidence of fault by the Council, and the injustice to the complainant is not significant enough to warrant an investigation.

The complaint

1. The complainant, whom I refer to as Mrs X, complains the Council is not providing enough multi-use bins in local parks.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. 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’. 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
• the fault has not caused injustice to the person who complained. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

3. I considered Mrs X’s complaint and her correspondence with the Council. I invited Mrs X to comment on a draft of my decision.

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What I found

What happened

4. Mrs X complains the Council is not providing enough multi-use bins in the local parks within its area.
5. Mrs X complains the lack of multi-use bins has caused litter in the parks and she would like the Council to provide additional bins.
6. The Council has advised that it does plan to upgrade the bin facilities in local parks, however it is restricted financially as to how many can be upgraded each year. It has also been encouraging park users to take rubbish home with them to reduce the amount of litter left in the park.

Assessment

7. The Council explained it is upgrading the bins over a period of time due to financial constraints, however, it has been encouraging park users to take their rubbish with them. I believe this to be a suitable course of action by the Council and an investigation is unlikely to find fault with how the Council made this decision.
8. Additionally, I will not investigate this complaint because I do not believe the lack of multi-use bins in local parks has caused significant injustice to Mrs X.

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Final decision

9. I will not investigate this complaint. This is because it is unlikely I would find evidence of fault by the Council, and the injustice to Mrs X is not significant enough to warrant an investigation by the Ombudsman.

Investigator’s decision on behalf of the Ombudsman

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman