Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s response to the overgrown state of the alley behind Mr X’s house. This is because there is insufficient evidence of fault by the Council or injustice caused to Mr X to warrant an investigation.

The complaint

1. The complainant, who I refer to as Mr X, says the Council is not concerned with helping to address the overgrown state of the alley behind his property and that it has not maintained its land on the other side of the alley. This is preventing his easy access and use of the alley.

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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 may decide not to continue with 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 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))

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How I considered this complaint

3. I considered information provided by Mr X and the Council, including its response to his complaint.
4. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

5. In response to Mr X’s complaint about the overgrown state of the alley behind his property, the Council told Mr X that the alley is not Council land but in private ownership. It confirmed that it would cut back overgrowth coming from its land on the other side of the alley once resources allow for the work.
6. While the Council owned land on the other side of the alley may not be maintained as regularly as Mr X would like, we are unlikely to find fault by the Council or injustice caused to Mr X sufficient to warrant an investigation.

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Final decision

7. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because there is insufficient evidence of fault by the Council or injustice caused to Mr X to warrant an investigation.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman