Northumberland County Council (23 012 947)
Category : Environment and regulation > Refuse and recycling
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 07 Dec 2023
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s policy to charge for the disposal of household DIY waste at its household waste and recycling centres. This is because there is insufficient evidence of fault.
The complaint
- Mr X complains about the Council’s policy to charge for the disposal of household DIY waste at its household waste and recycling centres.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
- We investigate 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 continue an investigation if we decide:
- there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating,
- we cannot achieve the outcome someone wants.
(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))
How I considered this complaint
- I considered information provided by the complainant.
- I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
- The Council accepts household waste free of charge. The Council does not treat waste created from home improvements or repairs (DIY waste) as household waste and it currently has no duty to accept it. It collects such waste as a discretionary service for which there is a charge.
- Mr X says the Council’s policy to charge for the disposal of DIY waste is unfair. He says the government announced earlier this year that councils should not be charging for DIY waste and that it intends to legislate to require all councils to abolish these fees. In light of this, he wants the Council to remove its charges to allow him to dispose of his DIY waste without charge.
- We will not investigate this complaint. Despite the government’s announcement, legislation requiring councils to accept and dispose of household DIY waste free of charge has not yet come into force. Until this legislation is passed, the Council is not under a duty to comply. An investigation by us would be unlikely to reach a finding of fault or achieve the outcome Mr X wants.
Final decision
- We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because there is insufficient evidence of fault.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman