Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about how the Council dealt with matters concerning a decision to end an allotment tenancy. This is because there is insufficient evidence of fault.

The complaint

1. Mr X complains that the Council failed to properly consider his concerns about a decision by an allotment society (the Society) to terminate the tenancy for an allotment plot.

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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 consider whether there was fault in the way an organisation made its decision. If there was no fault in how the organisation made its decision, we cannot question the outcome. (Local Government Act 1974, section 34(3), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

3. I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
4. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

5. Mr X leased an allotment plot from the Society. A decision was made by The Society to terminate Mr X’s tenancy after he admitted breaching the allotment rules by starting a bonfire outside of the allowed period. Mr X unsuccessfully appealed to the society against the termination of his lease, so asked the Council to intervene.
6. The Council has given a lease to the Society. Under the lease the Society association has control of the land. Allotment tenants do not have a contract with the Council, and as the Society is not acting for the Council, the actions of the Society is not in the jurisdiction of the Ombudsman. We therefore cannot investigate the actions of the Society but can investigate the how the Council considered Mr X’s concerns about how the Society dealt with his appeal, as this is an act of the Council.
7. The Council considered the circumstances of the case, the Society’s reasons for terminating Mr X’s tenancy and the allotment rules on bonfires and how appeals should be considered. The Council found that the Society had acted appropriately.
8. While Mr X may be disappointed with the outcome of his complaint to the Council, it is not our role to act as a point of appeal. We cannot question the merits of decisions properly taken by councils. 
9. I will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because there is insufficient evidence of fault by the Council. It considered relevant information in response to Mr X concerns about how the Society had acted in regards to its termination of his tenancy and its subsequent appeal. The Council’s decision that the Society had acted appropriately was one it was entitled to make and without the absence of fault cannot be questioned by the Ombudsman.

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Final decision

10. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because there is insufficient evidence of fault by the Council.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman