The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s response to reports of antisocial behaviour. This is because there is not enough evidence of fault to justify our involvement.
The complaint
Mr X complained the Council did not respond properly to his reports of school children gathering outside his house. He said the children are loud and he had to clean up litter. He said it made him nervous and he wants the Council to act on his concerns.
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 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))
How I considered this complaint
I considered information provided by the complainant.
I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
In response to Mr X’s concerns the Council said it did not have a team to patrol the area but informed the school and Neighbourhood Police Team. It said a Police Officer patrolled the area at least two days a week since Mr X’s initial report but no antisocial behaviour was observed. The Officer spoke with Mr X’s neighbours who reported no concerns. The Council said if it received any reports of concerns from partner agencies it would offer support.
We will not investigate this complaint. The Council took suitable steps to investigate and address the concerns. There is not enough evidence of fault to justify the Ombudsman’s involvement.
Final decision
We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because there is not enough evidence of fault to justify our involvement.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman