Summary: Mr X complained the Council failed to prevent unauthorised parking, and regularly collect refuse and recycling on the estate where he lives. The Council failed to regularly collect the refuse and recycling from Mr X’s building between mid-2019 and mid-2021. However, this was due to unauthorised parking and despite the Council’s efforts to resolve the problem. The Council has apologised to Mr X. We were satisfied this was a suitable remedy, so we completed our investigation.

The complaint

1. Mr X complained the Council failed to prevent unauthorised parking on the estate where he lives over the last 40 years. He said this is dangerous because it could prevent access to emergency services. He also complained the Council failed to reliably collect the refuse and recycling from his building over the last eight years, often because of the unauthorised parking. He said this caused him avoidable frustration and inconvenience. He wanted the Council to prevent the unauthorised parking and ensure the bins are collected on schedule.

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What I have investigated

2. I have investigated whether the Council regularly collected refuse and recycling from Mr X’s building since September 2019.
3. The final section of this statement contains my reasons for not investigating the rest of the complaint.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

4. 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)
5. The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
6. We cannot investigate late complaints unless we decide there are good reasons. Late complaints are when someone takes more than 12 months to complain to us about something a council has done. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26B and 34D, as amended)
7. We cannot investigate complaints about the provision or management of social housing by a council acting as a registered social housing provider. (Local Government Act 1974, paragraph 5A schedule 5, as amended)
8. 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

9. I considered:
• the information Mr X provided and discussed the complaint with him;
• the Council’s comments on the complaint and the supporting information it provided; and
• the relevant law and Council policies.
10. Mr X complained to the Ombudsman in February 2021 about missed refuse and recycling collections over several years, so his complaint about events before early 2020 is late. The Council had extensive contact with Mr X between September 2020 and early 2021, and Mr X complained to us quickly after the Council sent him its final response. Therefore, I am satisfied, there are good reasons to consider collections from September 2019.
11. Mr X and the Council had an opportunity to comment on my draft decision. I considered their comments before making a final decision.

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What I found

Refuse and recycling collections

12. Councils have a duty under the Environmental Protection Act 1990 to collect household waste and recycling from properties in their areas. The collections do not have to be weekly and councils can decide the type of bins or boxes people must use.
13. The Council's practice is to make weekly collections of household waste and recycling from large, shared bins outside Mr X’s building.

What happened

14. Mr X lives in a housing estate owned by the Council. He said there have been problems with unauthorised parking on the estate for many years, and this has caused problems with refuse and recycling collections over the last eight years.
15. The Council accepted that refuse and recycling collections have been inconsistent and sporadic for some time. It said this was because collection crews could often not access the estate to empty the bins from Mr X’s building because of unauthorised parking by residents and visitors to the estate.
16. The Council recognised the impact this was having on residents and explored various ways to ensure access for collections. This included:
• consulting with its housing estate management team about the unauthorised parking;
• increasing parking patrols to discourage unauthorised parking;
• installing extra signage restricting parking, although this was removed by unknown people;
• writing to and challenging owners of vehicles blocking access;
• monitoring bin collections and trying extra collections at other times;
• holding site meetings with estate staff to better understand the issues;
• exploring moving the bins to make collections easier, although this was not possible; and
• exploring installing lockable bollards to restrict access to the estate, although the tenants’ association rejected this proposal.
17. Despite these efforts, the unauthorised parking and sporadic collections continued.
18. Mr X complained to the Council in September 2020. The Council recognised the problems, apologised to Mr X and explained that it was introducing different parking controls which would allow it to remove vehicles parked without permission. The Council told Mr X it expected to introduce the new controls from mid-2021.
19. Mr X was not satisfied with the Council’s response, so he complained to the Ombudsman in February 2021.

My findings

20. The Council has a duty to collect household waste and recycling and it accepts it has not done this consistently in line with its own collection schedule. Given the period collections were disrupted, this represented a failure to provide a service the Council is responsible for. This was fault which caused frustration and inconvenience to Mr X and other residents.
21. However, the evidence shows the Council took proportionate action to resolve the problem. Although there was service failure, this was despite the Council’s efforts. The main reason for the missed collections was people blocking access by parking vehicles without permission.
22. Considering the reasons for, and the intermittent nature of, the missed collections, I am satisfied the Council’s apology to Mr X was a suitable remedy for the frustration and inconvenience he experienced.
23. The Council has begun introducing the new parking controls and Mr X told me there had been no missed collections in the last few months. Therefore, I have not recommended a further period of monitoring.

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Final decision

24. I have completed my investigation and I uphold those parts of Mr X’s complaint I have investigated. The Council failed to regularly collect the refuse and recycling from Mr X’s building between mid-2019 and mid-2021. However, this was due to unauthorised parking and despite the Council’s efforts to resolve the problem. The Council has apologised to Mr X and I am satisfied this was a suitable remedy.

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Parts of the complaint that I did not investigate

25. I have not investigated Mr X’s complaint that the Council failed to prevent the unauthorised parking on the housing estate where he lives. This is because estate management, including parking, is part of the Council’s management of its social housing as a registered social housing provider and the Ombudsman cannot consider complaints about such matters.
26. I have also not considered refuse and recycling collections before September 2019. This is because we cannot normally consider complaints about matters which happened more than 12 months before someone complaints to us. Mr X complained to us in February 2021 about matters going back several years. Although I have decided there were good reasons to consider matters from September 2019, I am not satisfied there were good reasons Mr X could not have complained to the Ombudsman sooner about matters before then.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman