Summary: We will not investigate Miss X’s complaint about the Council’s involvement in the installation of a street cabinet in front of her property by a communications firm. There is not enough evidence of fault by the Council here to warrant us investigating and we cannot achieve the outcome Miss X seeks. The actions of the communications company are outside our jurisdiction, and we cannot achieve the outcome Miss X seeks from her complaint.

The complaint

1. Miss X has a property with a low-walled front garden. In 2022, a communications firm installed a cabinet on the pavement next to her front wall. Miss X complains:
1. she was not notified about the installation of the cabinet;
2. the Council has failed to get the communications firm to move the cabinet;
3. the communications firm has failed to correspond and mediate with her about moving the cabinet.
2. Miss X says the location of the cabinet would stop her installing a double access or off-street parking at the property in the future. She wants the cabinet moved.

Back to top

The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. The Ombudsman investigates 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 may decide not to continue with an investigation if we decide:

• there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating; or
• we cannot achieve the outcome someone wants.

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

4. We investigate complaints about councils and certain other bodies. We cannot investigate the actions of bodies such as communications companies. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 25 and 34A, as amended)

Back to top

How I considered this complaint

5. I considered information from Miss X, relevant law and guidance, and the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

Back to top

My assessment

6. Councils’ involvement in communications equipment installations is limited. If a firm is a statutory body for the purpose of fitting that equipment, it does not need planning permission from a council to do so on council‑owned or maintained land. Such works fall under permitted development, which means permission is assumed to be granted. This is set out in Part 16 of Schedule 2 of The Town and Country Planning (General Permitted Development) (England) Order 2015.
7. The firm notified the Council of its intention to fit its cabinet within 30 days. This was required because it was new equipment at that location. But there was no requirement on the Council to advise Miss X of the installation. The notification is between the firm and the Council and is there for officers to consider whether they should object to the cabinet’s location on public safety grounds. These are the only grounds on which the Council could have opposed the cabinet and where the firm proposed to fit it. The Council’s officers determined the cabinet caused no public safety concerns it needed to raise with the firm. Officers could not prevent the cabinet’s installation next to Miss X’s property because it may prevent her installing off-street parking in the future. While it has no formal powers, the Council has sought to persuade the firm to reconsider the cabinet’s location but has been unsuccessful. There is not enough evidence of fault by the Council in its involvement in this matter to warrant us investigating.
8. We can only consider the role of the Council in the installation of the cabinet. I recognise Miss X may want the communications firm to be within our remit, but we cannot investigate any the actions of the firm because it is outside our jurisdiction, so we cannot investigate this part of the complaint. This includes any notification Miss X considers the firm should have given to her, the firm’s responses to her complaint, any decision to decline to mediate with her, and any questions about the firm’s compliance with the Electronic Communications Code or other industry codes of practice.
9. I realise Miss X wants the cabinet moved. But the Council does not have the power to achieve this. We could not order a council to take an action as a remedy which is outside its authority. That we cannot achieve the outcome Miss X seeks is a further reason why we will not investigate.

Back to top

Final decision

10. We will not investigate Miss X’s complaint because:
• there is not enough evidence of fault in the Council’s involvement in the matter complained of to warrant us investigating; and
• the actions of the communications company are outside our jurisdiction; and
• we cannot achieve the outcome Miss X seeks from her complaint.

Back to top

Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman