London Borough of Newham (24 017 503)
Category : Environment and regulation > Refuse and recycling
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 02 Apr 2025
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s requirement that the complainant leaves his bins at the edge of a public footpath instead of at the edge of his property. We have not seen enough evidence of fault in the Council’s actions to justify an investigation.
The complaint
- Mr X complains the Council is not following its own policy when asking him to leave his bin at the end of a footpath instead of at the edge of his property.
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.
(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))
How I considered this complaint
- I considered information provided by Mr X and the Council.
- I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
- Mr X says the Council is breaching its policy by asking him to leave his bins at the edge of a public footpath instead of at the edge of his own property.
- The Council’s policy states:
“In a small number of cases, due to the access or location of a property, it may not be possible for householders to place bins at the kerbside in the front of their property. In these circumstances the Council will designate an alternative collection point for the householder.”
- In this case the Council has asked Mr X to leave his bins in a specific location which is not at the boundary of his property. It has visited the site and is satisfied the bins will not be on a public path.
- Mr X says the Council has not collected his rubbish. However the Council has confirmed if they are not left at the correct point they will not be collected.
Final decision
- We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because were have not seen enough evidence of fault in the Council’s actions.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman