Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about the Council’s response to his concerns about his neighbour leaving their rubbish out in bin bags, and not responding to his complaint that the neighbour is using the rubbish as a form of anti-social behaviour (ASB). There is not enough evidence of Council fault nor sufficient significant personal injustice caused to him to warrant an investigation. We also cannot achieve the outcomes he seeks. We do not investigate councils’ complaint-handling where we are not investigating the issues giving rise to the complaint.

The complaint

1. Mr X has a neighbour, Y, who receives assisted bin collections. Y leaves household waste out for collection in binbags, not wheeled bins. Mr X complains the Council:
1. failed to respond properly to his concerns about insanitary waste collection procedures used by Y;
2. ignored his concerns about Y using the waste issue to behave anti-socially towards him.
2. Mr X finds Y using bags to put out waste on the boundary with the road to be unacceptable. He says other residents and passers-by will also see the bags. He is concerned the bin bags will affect potential house sales. Mr X believes the neighbour is putting the waste bags out for him to see, as a form of anti-social behaviour (ASB), which he says Y has previously been involved in.
3. Mr X wants the Council to issue Y with a warning and consider fining them, to act as a deterrent. He wants social services to visit Y and for the Council to possibly investigate the influence on Y from another neighbour.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

4. 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; or
• any fault has not caused injustice to the person who complained; or
• any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement; or
• we cannot achieve the outcome someone wants.

(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))

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How I considered this complaint

5. I considered information from Mr X, relevant online maps and images, and the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

6. The Council provides Y with an assisted collection. It is not fault for the Council to decide how it collects Y’s rubbish and their eligibility for such collections. It is for the Council as the authority with the duty to collect household waste to decide the methods to be used at each property. This would include whether the householder should use wheeled bins, bags or another method. An assisted collection should mean the bin staff collect Y’s rubbish from their property rather than them placing the waste at the property’s boundary. Y has been putting their rubbish at the boundary on collection day.
7. Even if there has been fault in the Council not correcting Y in how they should present their waste, we will not investigate. We recognise Mr X takes offence at the sight of the bin bags. But this is not a sufficiently significant injustice to him to warrant us investigating. Any upset caused to others by the presence of the bags is not his personal injustice. Mr X believes the bin bags might affect property sales and values. This is a speculative injustice which has not happened. We cannot take into account injustices based on concerns about events which have not occurred. There is insufficient injustice to Mr X from the matters complained of to warrant investigation.
8. We note Mr X believes Y has been placing the bin bags at their boundary as a form of ASB against him. Mr X’s correspondence with the Council shows that is what he believes, but it does not include evidence that Y’s actions were ASB towards him. While Y’s actions annoy and upset Mr X, the outcome from the Council not pursuing this matter as ASB is the presence of the bin bags, and this does not cause sufficient significant injustice to Mr X to justify us investigating.
9. We also cannot achieve the complaint outcomes Mr X wants. We cannot order councils to fine or otherwise sanction his neighbour. It is also for the Council to decide, not any other party, whether Y requires social services contact or support. We cannot order councils to make such interventions. That we cannot achieve the outcomes Mr X seeks is a further reason why we will not investigate.
10. Mr X complains the Council’s complaint responses did not include the ASB issue. The Council could have referred to this in its reply. But we do not investigate councils’ complaint-handling in isolation where we are not investigating the core issues which gave rise to the complaint. It is not a good use of our resources to do so. That limitation applies here so we will not investigate this part of the complaint.

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Final decision

11. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because:
• there is not enough evidence of Council fault to warrant an investigation; and
• there is insufficient significant personal injustice caused to him by the matters complained of to justify us investigating; and
• we cannot achieve the complaint outcomes he seeks; and
• we do not investigate councils’ complaint-handling where we are not investigating the core issues which gave rise to the complaint.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman