Dover District Council (20 010 623)

Category : Other Categories > Leisure and culture

Decision : Closed after initial enquiries

Decision date : 02 Mar 2021

The Ombudsman's final decision:

Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s decision not to provide more public toilets. This is because there is insufficient evidence of fault by the Council.

The complaint

  1. The complainant, whom I refer to as Mr X, complains there is only one public toilet in the town centre.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

  1. We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. In this statement, I have used the word ‘fault’ to refer to these. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse impact on the person making the complaint. I refer to this as ‘injustice’. We provide a free service, but must use public money carefully. We may decide not to start an investigation if we believe it is unlikely we would find fault. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

  1. I read the complaint and the Council’s response. I considered comments Mr X made in reply to a draft of this decision.

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What I found

What happened

  1. Mr X complained to the Council that there is only one public toilet in the town centre. The Council confirmed this is correct although said there are other toilets in the area which are not owned by the Council. The Council said it has no plans to open more toilets.
  2. Mr X says it is a disgrace that there are no public toilets or plans to provide any. There used to be toilets but they closed, even though there are still signs pointing to them.

Assessment

  1. I will not start an investigation because there is insufficient evidence of fault by the Council. This is because the Council is not required to provide public toilets.
  2. It is unfortunate there are signs pointing to closed toilets but this does not require an investigation. And, this does not mislead Mr X because he knows the toilets are closed.
  3. Mr X could lobby his local councillors for a change in the Council’s policy if he thinks the Council should adopt a policy of providing more public toilets. It is for the Council, not us, to decide whether to provide public toilets.

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Final decision

  1. I will not start an investigation because there is insufficient evidence of fault by the Council.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman

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