Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about a decision to re-classify a local play area to a larger type of play area. There is no worthwhile outcome achievable.

The complaint

1. X complains the Council should not have re-classified a local area of play to a larger park. X says this now attracts noise and nuisance and they want the Council to remove or reduce the size of the park.

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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 there is no worthwhile outcome achievable by our investigation. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))

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How I considered this complaint

2. I considered information provided by the complainant and I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

3. X complained to their landlord about noise and nuisance caused by the presence of a local area of play near their home. In October 2024, X’s landlord told them that the decision on the designation of the park was a planning decision that was approved by the Council in 2016.
4. I will not investigate this complaint. There is no worthwhile outcome achievable. This is because we could not direct the Council to revisit a decision it took in 2016. If X was affected by that decision in 2016, they would have needed to raise a complaint about their concerns at that time.
5. In any case, we could not direct the Council to alter the layout of the park now in line with what X is seeking.

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Final decision

6. We will not investigate X’s complaint because there is no worthwhile outcome achievable.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman