Source · SPSO (Scottish Public Services Ombudsman)

The City of Edinburgh Council

SPSO (Scottish Public Services Ombudsman) Partly Upheld Reference 201800864 Sector Local Government Category neighbour disputes and anti-social behaviour Decided 01 March 2019

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Original decision on the SPSO (Scottish Public Services Ombudsman) website ↗

Full decision

Summary

Mr C complained that the council failed to investigate his complaints about anti- social behaviour properly, resulting in him being put at risk. Mr C said he had been threatened and harassed but the council had failed to act on his complaints, deliberately ignoring him so that a final warning issued to his neighbour could lapse.

We found that Mr C's complaints of anti-social behaviour had been investigated. When the council had been able to verify the complaints, they had taken action against Mr C's neighbour, including issuing a final warning. There was no evidence that one had been issued and allowed to lapse, or that Mr C had complained of direct threats to his safety. Therefore, we did not uphold this aspect of Mr C's complaint.

Mr C also complained that the council failed to deal with his complaints about the level of service he had received. We found that the council had acknowledged a failure to respond timeously to Mr C's complaints and apologised appropriately. We upheld this aspect of Mr C's complaint but made no further recommendations.

Related reading

View Decision Report 201800864 as a PDF (23.77 KB) Updated: March 20, 2019

View original on SPSO (Scottish Publ… website