Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s failure to carry out maintenance work on private land next to Mrs X’s home. there is insufficient evidence of fault which would warrant an investigation.

The complaint

1. Mrs X complained about the Council refusing to remove overgrown trees and vegetation non land adjacent to her home. she says the growth is preventing her access to the rear of her home and making it difficult to take her waste bins to the front.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. 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
• we could not add to any previous investigation by the organisation, or
• further investigation would not lead to a different outcome.

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

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How I considered this complaint

3. I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
4. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

5. Mrs X lives in a property joined on to other homes at either side. She says trees and vegetation have become overgrown on land at the rear of her home which she needs to access to take her waste bins round to the front for collection. She asked the Council to carry out maintenance of the land but it told her it has no responsibility for maintaining private land at taxpayer’s expense.
6. After she reported difficulty with her waste collection the Council carried out a limited cut of overhanging branches as a goodwill gesture. It does not propose to carry out further work at public expense because the land is private. Mrs X has tried to identify the owners of the land but it is unregistered and she has had no success.
7. I can find no evidence of fault on the Council’s part. The problem with the land is a civil matter and it has no duty to maintain private land. As waste collection authority it has a duty to collect waste from the collection point which it may determine.

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Final decision

8. We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s failure to carry out maintenance work on private land next to Mrs X’s home. there is insufficient evidence of fault which would warrant an investigation.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman