Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about the Council not carrying out work in relation to fencing near his property. The Council has already apologised for earlier delays in responding to his service request, and any remaining injustice in relation to incomplete works is not significant enough to justify our involvement.

The complaint

1. Mr X was unhappy the Council delayed carrying out remedial work in relation to overgrown hedges and carrying out other road maintenance. He was also unhappy it had not completed additional work on his boundary, it earlier said it would. Mr X said this caused him inconvenience.

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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 any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement. (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 the complainant and I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

4. Mr X complained because the Council had not responded to his earlier service requests about boundary and other highway maintenance work. The Council replied and apologised it had not met service expectations. It also carried out some works and said it was in the process of obtaining quotes for additional work. It said it would complete the work in time.
5. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint. Our role is to consider complaints where the person bringing the complaint has suffered significant personal injustice as a direct result of the actions or inactions of the organisation. This means we will normally only investigate a complaint where the complainant has suffered serious loss, harm, or distress as a direct result of faults or failures. We will not normally investigate a complaint where the alleged loss or injustice is not a serious or significant matter.
6. The Council have upheld Mr X’s complaint and apologised for its earlier service failure. It has committed to carrying out other work in time and therefore any remaining injustice there may be to Mr X, is not sufficiently serious that would warrant an Ombudsman investigation.

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Final decision

7. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because there is no significant injustice.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman