Summary: The Ombudsman will not investigate how the Council dealt with this complaint about a potentially dangerous wall or the complainant’s concerns about the Council’s complaint procedure. This is because it is unlikely an investigation by the Ombudsman could add to the Council’s response.

The complaint

1. The complainant, whom I shall refer to as Mr X, has complained about how the Council has dealt with his complaint about a potentially dangerous wall. Mr X disputes the wall is safe and says the Council’s complaint policy is deliberately obstructive. Mr X says he has been put to time and trouble as a result and the Council should change its complaint procedure.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. 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 or continue with an investigation if we believe:

• it is unlikely we could add to any previous investigation by the Council, or
• it is unlikely further investigation will lead to a different outcome.

(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

3. I have considered Mr X’s complaint and the Council’s responses. I invited Mr X to comment on a draft of this decision and have considered his comments in response.

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What I found

4. Councils can take action to protect the public if it considers a building or structure to be unsafe. Councils can order works to improve the dangerous structure and if the building owner does not comply with the order the council can carry out the works and charge for the cost.

What happened

5. In July 2020, Mr X contacted the Council to report concerns about a wall near his home which he believed was dangerous. Mr X did not receive a response from the Council and contacted it again in September 2020 to complain about the lack of action. The Council responded to Mr X but said his feedback fell outside its policy and would therefore not be dealt with as a formal complaint. Mr X was unhappy with this response and complained to the Council again. After some further correspondence, the Council agreed to deal with the matter as a formal complaint and sent Mr X a response under the first stage of its complaint’s procedure. The Council said a highways officer visited and inspected the wall the day after Mr X contacted it in July and decided it was safe. It apologised for not updating Mr X regarding the actions it had taken at the time.
6. Mr X was unhappy with this response and raised further concerns about how the Council dealt with his complaint. The Council sent Mr X a stage two complaint response. It accepted it had not handled his complaint properly and agreed his correspondence in September 2020 should have been dealt with as a formal complaint. It also agreed that although the wall was not an immediate danger there was a delay liaising with the owners and arranging for the remedial works to be carried out.

Assessment

7. I will not investigate this complaint about how the Council dealt with Mr X’s complaint about a potentially dangerous wall. This is because it is unlikely an investigation by the Ombudsman could add to the Council’s response or achieve anything more for Mr X.
8. Mr X says the wall is dangerous, but I am satisfied the Council visited and inspected the wall before deciding it was not an immediate threat to the public. It was entitled to use its professional judgement in this regard, and it has now taken steps to arrange for the wall to be repaired.
9. Mr X says he had to contact the Council on many occasions before it would deal with his concerns. He says this was not an isolated incident and its procedure is deliberately obstructive. The Council has accepted it did not deal with Mr X’s complaint properly and has apologised. It has also acknowledged that Mr X has demonstrated issues with its complaint’s procedure. It says it will raise the issue with the relevant manager to ensure lessons are learnt. Although Mr X is unsatisfied with the Council’s response, I consider it unlikely an investigation by the Ombudsman could add to this or achieve anything further for Mr X.

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Final decision

10. The Ombudsman will not investigate this complaint. This is because it is unlikely an investigation by the Ombudsman could add to the Council’s response.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman