Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about the Council’s decision not to take enforcement action against his neighbour’s untidy garden. We have not seen enough evidence of fault in the Council’s actions to justify an investigation.

The complaint

1. Mr X complains the Council refuses to take enforcement action against his neighbour for their untidy and overgrown rear garden.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. 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 not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating.

(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))

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How I considered this complaint

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

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My assessment

5. Section 215 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 allows a council to compel landowners to clean up untidy sites. While the Council can issue a notice, it has no duty to do so.
6. We may only criticise a council’s decision where there has been fault in its decision-making process and but for that fault it would have made a different decision. We cannot replace a properly made officer decision with our or anyone else’s opinion. So, we consider the processes the Council has used to reach its decision.
7. In response to Mr X’s concerns the Council confirms officers from environmental health and public protection teams have visited the site. They have shared information with the planning team.
8. The Council confirms there is no breach of planning control at the site. There is also no evidence of vermin, and it has not received any applications for action under high hedge legislation.
9. It recognises there is overgrown vegetation on the site. However, it does not consider the impact on the community is so severe that enforcement action is required.
10. So, the Council has advised that it is the professional opinion of officers that the condition of the site does not warrant the Council serving a section 215 Notice. There is not enough evidence of fault in the decision‑making process here to warrant us investigating. We recognise Mr X disagrees with the Council’s decision. But it is not fault for a council to properly make a decision with which someone disagrees.

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Final decision

11. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because there is not enough evidence of fault in the way the Council decided not to serve a section 215 notice on his neighbour.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman