Summary: Ms X complains about the Council’s failure to take enforcement action against a neighbour who has built a wooden structure at the front of their house. The Ombudsman will not investigate this complaint because there is insufficient injustice to warrant investigation.

The complaint

1. Ms X complains about the Council’s failure to take enforcement action against a neighbour who has built a wooden structure at the front of their house.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. We cannot investigate something that affects all or most of the people in a council’s area. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(7), as amended)
3. 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 would find fault, or
• the fault has not caused injustice to the person who complained, or
• the injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement.

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

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How I considered this complaint

4. I considered the complainant's and Council's comments. The complainant has commented on the draft decision.

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What I found

5. Ms X’s neighbour erected a wooden structure to surround their wheelie bin at the front of their house. Ms X lives opposite. She says that the structure needs planning permission.
6. The Council considered the matter but decided that no enforcement action was warranted.
7. I am not persuaded that the injustice caused to Ms X by this matter warrants investigation. It causes no physical detriment to Ms X, nor does it cause any loss of amenity to her by its presence. Any cost to the tax payer is a matter which affects all or most of the population of the area and so is out of jurisdiction.

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Final decision

8. The Ombudsman will not investigate this complaint because the injustice does not warrant investigation.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman