London Borough of Camden (23 021 497)
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We have upheld Mr X’s complaint about the Council’s failure to consider his complaint about a lack of regular maintenance for a park on his street. The Council has agreed to resolve the complaint early by investigating Mr X’s complaint under its complaints procedure, which is a proportionate remedy for the injustice caused.
The complaint
- Mr X complains the Council has failed to act and refused to investigate his complaint about the lack of a regular maintenance schedule for the park on his street. He says the park is unsafe and the lack of regular maintenance prevents him accessing a clean safe outdoor environment. He wants the Council to maintain the park regularly.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
- 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 further investigation would not lead to a different outcome. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))
How I considered this complaint
- I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
- I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
- If we investigated this complaint, it is likely we would find fault. This is because the Council has rejected Mr X’s complaint as a service request but Mr X is dissatisfied with the lack of a regular maintenance schedule rather than making a one off request for a service. This has caused Mr X frustration and he says the matter is unresolved.
- We therefore asked the Council to consider remedying the injustice caused by agreeing to investigate Mr X’s complaint under its complaints procedure to resolve the complaint early.
- The Council has agreed to resolve the complaint and will now investigate and respond to Mr X’s complaint under its complaints procedure.
Final decision
- We have upheld this complaint because the Council has agreed to resolve the complaint early by providing a proportionate remedy for the injustice caused.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman