Stockport Metropolitan Borough Council (23 005 217)
Category : Environment and regulation > Refuse and recycling
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 03 Aug 2023
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s decision to provide the complainant with bags only for her refuse collection. There is not enough evidence of fault to justify an investigation.
The complaint
- The complainant, I shall call Miss X, complains about the Council’s decision to provide bin bags for refuse collection for the apartments where she lives. She says because the Council collects refuse once a fortnight, this attracts birds and vermin which rip open the bags creating a mess.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
- 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.
(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))
How I considered this complaint
- I considered information provided by Miss X.
- I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
- The Council says it previously provided bins for residents which did not work because local business used the resident’s bins to avoid paying for business waste. This led to residents placing bags out because the bins were full. This was not collected as the Council does not collect excess waste. This in turn created mess, fly tipping and vermin. The Council says it therefore decided to give residents bags only.
- The Council has offered to work with residents if with ideas to improve the situation. It also says Miss X may purchase a bin to store her waste in before collection. It confirms all residents are responsible for purchasing their bins as part of council tax revenue goes towards refuse collection, not provision of bins.
Final decision
- We will not investigate Miss X’s complaint. The Council has decided to supply bags only to the apartments where she lives and has explained its reasons. This is a decision it is entitled to make.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman