Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about events affecting Mr X’s allotment. The Council is now taking steps to deal with the matters. We would not achieve significantly more by investigating.

The complaint

1. Mr X complained the Council had not dealt properly with problems at a site where he has an allotment. He said this had resulted in inconvenience and concern about the actions of another allotment-holder.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. The Ombudsman investigates 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 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 copy correspondence from the Council, which included correspondence between Mr X and the Council after Mr X sent this complaint to the Ombudsman.
4. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

5. Mr X told the Council about breaches of the allotment rules at a site where he has an allotment. Mr X was not satisfied the Council did enough to deal with the problems, so he complained to the Council and then to us.
6. Before we began dealing with the complaint, Mr X and the Council communicated further with each other and a Council officer visited the site with Mr X. The Council then accepted it had not dealt properly with Mr X’s concerns. The Council contacted other allotment holders as necessary to secure compliance with some rules that seemed to have been broken. It says it will check compliance. The Council has employed a new officer to deal with such matters. It committed to better oversight of the allotments in future. The Council apologised to Mr X and refunded his annual fees.
7. We could not realistically expect to achieve more than the Council has now done. It is not the Ombudsman’s role to police the enforcement of allotment conditions in detail, nor can we obtain the eviction of tenants.
8. Part of Mr X’s complaint was about property being taken. I understand the property was later retrieved. I do not consider the Council could do more on this point.

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Final decision

9. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because the Council’s actions are an acceptable resolution of the complaint. It is unlikely we would achieve significantly more if we investigated.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman