Summary: The Ombudsman will not investigate Mr B’s complaint about the way the Council has responded to his reports of vandalism at his allotment. Further consideration of the complaint is unlikely to find fault by the Council.

The complaint

1. The complainant, whom I shall call Mr B, complains the Council has failed to deal with vandalism Mr B has suffered at his allotment since 2017. Mr B wants the Council to terminate the tenancy agreement of the people he believes are responsible for the vandalism.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. We investigate complaints of injustice caused by ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. I have used the word ‘fault’ to refer to these. We cannot question whether a council’s decision is right or wrong simply because the complainant disagrees with it. We must consider whether there was fault in the way the decision was reached. (Local Government Act 1974, section 34(3), as amended)
3. We provide a free service but must use public money carefully. We may decide not to start or continue with an investigation if we believe:

• it is unlikely we would find fault, or
• it is unlikely we could add to any previous investigation by the Council, or
• it is unlikely further investigation will lead to a different outcome, or
• we cannot achieve the outcome someone wants (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

4. I considered the information Mr B provided and the complaint correspondence between Mr B and the Council. I sent a draft decision to Mr B, discussed the complaint with him and considered the comments he made in reply before I made my final decision.

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What I found

5. Mr B has explained he has suffered incidents of vandalism at his allotment since December 2017. Mr B had a wildlife camera on his allotment and this recorded two people entering his plot. Mr B believed he had identified the perpetrators and reported this to the police and the Council.
6. The police told Mr B the recordings were circumstantial, and they could not take any action with the evidence Mr B had presented. The Council has also considered the camera footage and told Mr B it cannot use the evidence to take any action.
7. While Mr B is unhappy with the Council’s decision, the Ombudsman can only criticise the Council if its decision was made with fault. Further consideration of the complaint is unlikely to find fault because officers have:
• Viewed the video evidence, sought advice on its admissibility and whether Mr B needs to erect signs relating to the camera. The Council has explained the video footage is not correctly date stamped and shows people but no criminal activity, so it could not use this as evidence to take any action
• Considered the decision of the police not to take any further action
• Considered the tenancy agreement and whether there has been any breach of this by the people Mr B considers are responsible for the damage
• Contacted and discussed the matter with the tenants Mr B considers are responsible for the damage
8. Mr B complains the Council should take action because he has not provided any other tenant with permission to enter his plot, and his recordings show people on his plot. The Council considered this point in its complaint response and explained it had spoken to the people concerned who said they had Mr B’s permission. Mr B says this is incorrect and they had no reason to be on his plot in the middle of the night. Mr B also complains the vandalism has not stopped.
9. While Mr B considers the Council has sufficient evidence to take action to terminate the tenancy of particular plot holders, the Council disagrees. For the reasons explained above, further consideration of the complaint is unlikely to find fault with the way the Council has made its decision. Any further incidents of vandalism should be reported to the police as these are complaints about criminal activity.

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Final decision

10. The Ombudsman will not investigate this complaint. This is because further consideration of the complaint is unlikely to find fault by the Council.

Investigator’s final decision on behalf of the Ombudsman

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman