The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint that the Council does not respond properly to reports about issues such as litter and street maintenance. This is because there is insufficient evidence of fault by the Council.
The complaint
The complainant, Mr X, says he has to keep reporting the same environmental issues because the Council closes the cases without resolving them. He wants the Council to provide an update on all the reports he has made in the last year and respond to any that remain unresolved.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
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 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))
How I considered this complaint
I considered information provided by Mr X and the Council. This includes the complaint correspondence. I also considered our Assessment Code.
My assessment
Mr X says he submits many reports to the Council about issues such as street cleaning, litter, fly tipping and the maintenance of parks and green spaces. He says the Council’s responses are inadequate and his reports are ignored or closed without being dealt with. Mr X wants the Council to review all the reports he has made over the last 12 months and provide an update and a resolution when needed.
The Council checked and found 14 reports from Mr X in the previous 12 months. Of these, the system showed that 10 had been completed, two were in progress and one case had been cancelled although the street had been cleaned. The remaining case was with another service area. The Council asked Mr X to make a Freedom of Information request if he wanted more detail.
I will not start an investigation because there is insufficient evidence of fault by the Council. The Council checked its records and found that it had responded to virtually every report. I do not know the status of the report with the other service area, but this does not need an investigation. I appreciate Mr X may think the Council ignores his reports, and it is possible that some reports are not actioned but, overall, there is not evidence of fault to require an investigation. And, as stated by the Council, Mr X can make a Freedom of Information request to the Council if he wants more information.
Final decision
We will not investigate this complaint because there is insufficient evidence of fault by the Council.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman