Summary: We cannot investigate Mrs X’s complaint about refuse and recycling collections, street cleanliness and highway maintenance. This is because the refuse and street cleanliness issues stem from industrial strike action by the Council’s refuse collection crews and is a matter which affects all or most of the people in the Council’s area. The court is in the best position to decide whether the Council has met its legal duty to maintain the highway.

The complaint

1. Mrs X complains the Council has failed to provide reliable refuse and recycling collections and to deal with fly-tipping reports. She also says the Council has failed to adequately maintain streets, roads, pavements, parks and other public areas. She wants a Council tax rebate and compensation for the inconvenience and lost time reporting the issues.

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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 something we decide affects all or most of the people in a council’s area. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(7), as amended)
4. The law says we cannot normally investigate a complaint when someone could take the matter to court. However, we may decide to investigate if we consider it would be unreasonable to expect the person to go to court. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(6)(c), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

5. I considered information provided by Mrs X and the Council.
6. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

7. The Council’s refuse collection crews began industrial strike action. This resulted in missed collections for a large proportion of the Council’s residents and a backlog of reports which the Council is trying to clear. The industrial action also affected street cleaning and the cleaning of public areas.
8. While I appreciate Mrs X is unhappy the Council has not provided reliable refuse and recycling collections, she is affected by these issues in the same or a similar way as ‘all or most’ of the residents in the Council’s area. The exclusion set out at Paragraph 3 therefore applies.
9. Mrs X also says she has reported highway defects to the Council. She says the Council has not responded to her reports.
10. Section 41 of the Highways Act 1980 places a duty on highways authorities to maintain public highways. Highways authorities are expected to routinely monitor the state of highways for which they are responsible and to carry out repairs where necessary.
11. Mrs X has the right to apply to a magistrates’ court for an order to be made under section 56 of the Highways Act 1980. This order requires the authority to carry out the work needed to the highway.
12. If the highways authority does not respond in time or does not accept it is responsible for maintaining the road, Mrs X may apply to the crown court for such an order.
13. Mrs X may use this process to try to get the Council to repair the road. I find it is reasonable for Mrs X to do this. The court is in the best position to decide whether the Council has met its legal duty to maintain the highway. Also, unlike the Ombudsman, the court can order the Council to do the required work.
14. Mrs X is also concerned about the condition of the park and its facilities. Mrs X should complete the Council’s complaint procedure on this part of the complaint before we will consider it.
15. Mrs X is also unhappy with the way the Council dealt with her complaint. But it is not a good use of public resources to look at the Council’s complaints handling if we are not going to look at the subject of the complaint. We will not therefore investigate this issue separately.

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Final decision

16. We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint because the issue stems from industrial strike action by the Council’s refuse collection crews and is a matter which affects all or most of the people in the Council’s area. The court is in the best position to decide whether the Council has met its legal duty to maintain the highway.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman