Summary: We will not investigate Mr G’s complaint about the Council’s failure since 2020 to ensure wheelie bins are stored correctly rather than being left in the street between collections. This is because a complaint about what the Council did in 2020 is late and Mr G could have approached the Ombudsman about it sooner, and the Council has not yet replied to a complaint from him about more recent events.

The complaint

1. Mr G says the Council has failed to ensure occupiers of properties in a conservation area return their wheelie bins to the proper place of storage between bin collections. He says the bins are unsightly and cause obstruction of the highway outside his premises and inconvenience for his tenants, and they encourage fly tipping.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
3. 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, section 26B, as amended)
4. The Ombudsman investigates 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 may decide not to continue with an investigation if we decide:

• there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating, or
• we could not add to any previous investigation by the organisation, or
• it would be reasonable for the person to ask for an organisation review or appeal.

(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6))

5. The law says we cannot normally investigate a complaint unless we are satisfied the Council knows about it and has had an opportunity to investigate and reply. We may decide to investigate if we consider it would be unreasonable to notify the Council of the complaint and give it an opportunity to investigate and reply. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(5)

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How I considered this complaint

6. I considered information provided by Mr G.
7. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

8. Mr G owns commercial properties he says are affected by wheelie bins left out in the street. He complained to the Council in 2020 about the matter and the Council replied. It set out the steps it had taken to try to resolve the issue, working with the local civic society. It also recognised conditions created by the Covid-19 pandemic had affected progress, and asked Mr G to allow time for matters to improve.
9. Mr G’s complaint to us about the Council’s 2020 response is late because more than 12 months have passed. If Mr G wanted the Ombudsman to investigate that response I see no reason he could not have complained to us before now. There is therefore no good reason to investigate now what happened in 2020.
10. Mr G has complained again to the Council around the same time as complaining to the Ombudsman. We would not usually investigate what the Council has done more recently because it has not yet had chance, through its own complaints procedure, to respond formally to Mr G’s recent contact with it. It would be reasonable for Mr G to complain again to Council and obtain a response, then approach the Ombudsman promptly when it has done so if he remains unhappy.

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Final decision

11. We will not investigate Mr G’s complaint, because a complaint about what the Council did in 2020 is late and he could reasonably have approached the Ombudsman about it sooner, and the Council has not yet replied to a complaint from Mr G about more recent events.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman