The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: Mr X complained about the Council not dealing with refuse collections from his block of flats in an appropriate manner. We have found fault with how the Council dealt with the ongoing issues. Mr X has suffered avoidable frustration and distress in getting the issues resolved. To remedy the injustice caused, the Council has agreed to apologise, pay a further time and trouble payment to Mr X and monitor collections for a period of three months.
The complaint
Mr X complains about the Council’s lack of action in dealing with issues linked to communal bins outside his block of flats, specifically: the council’s repeated failure to respond to communication dating back to the summer of 2020; the removal of communal bins from the front of the property to discourage fly tipping; and organising new bins and subsequent collections from the dedicated bin store at the rear of his flat.
Mr X says he has suffered stress and frustration in getting the issues resolved and having to chase responses to emails.
What I have investigated I have exercised discretion to investigate Mr X’s complaint back to summer 2020 when he first complained to the Council about the matter. Mr X has been in correspondence with the Council since this time but the matter has not been resolved due to a lack of effective action.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. In this statement, I have used the word fault to refer to these. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse impact on the person making the complaint. I refer to this as ‘injustice’. If there has been fault which has caused an injustice, we may suggest a remedy. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26(1) and 26A(1), as amended) If we are satisfied with an organisation’s actions or proposed actions, we can complete our investigation and issue a decision statement. (Local Government Act 1974, section 30(1B) and 34H(i), as amended) We cannot investigate late complaints unless we decide there are good reasons. Late complaints are when someone takes more than 12 months to complain to us about something a council has done. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26B and 34D, as amended)
How I considered this complaint
I have considered all the information Mr X provided and discussed this complaint with him. I have also asked the Council questions and requested information, and in turn have considered the Council’s response.
Mr X and the Council had the opportunity to comment on my draft decision. I have taken any comments received into consideration before reaching my final decision.
What I found
The relevant law Councils have a duty under the Environmental Protection Act 1990 to collect household waste and recycling from properties in their area.
What happened Mr X lives in a block of flats that has a communal bin store to the rear of the property. The rear bin store was not being used.
The Council instead made refuse and recycling collections from large commercial-style communal bins adjacent to the front of the block on a local road. The road is a thoroughfare and nearby to a retail park which houses a hardware store. Mr X’s flat overlooks the road and bins.
Mr X complained to the Council during July and August 2020 about fly tipping in these bins and the issues this caused. He said people using the nearby retail park would frequently fly tip as they entered or left the area. Mr X complained the bin lid was broken so it made it easier to deposit large items inside which added to the problem.
The Council confirmed it had neither spares to repair the broken bin, nor extra bins to replace the damaged one outside the block.
At this time, the Council officer dealing with correspondence took no further action and the issue remained unresolved.
Mr X then complained to the Council in November 2021 about the ongoing issues.
In mid-December, the Council apologised for previous delays and suggested it contact the managing agents for the block of flats to arrange collections from the rear of the property. The Council advised the bin could still not be repaired. It suggested it remove the communal bins outside, place one at the other end of the road and investigate the possibility of previously suggested CCTV in the area to discourage fly tipping.
Mr X was unhappy that the bin could not be repaired and at the lack of action on the Council’s part. He asked for the complaint to be escalated to stage two.
Mr X did not receive a response to his stage two escalation by mid-January, so emailed the Council again. He followed this up sending in pictures of items fly tipped outside, to illustrate the issue.
In its stage two response a few days later, the Council repeated much of its stage one response, offered Mr X a £50 time and trouble payment and advised the bins at the rear of the block should be operational by the end of February 2022. Mr X accepted the payment.
The issue was not resolved by the end of February and Mr X emailed the Council to ask the current position at the beginning of March. He does not appear to have received a response to this email and emailed again at the end of March.
Throughout March, the Council continued to communicate with the managing agents who said they could not afford the new bins. This resulted in a delay.
Mr X was advised and assured that new bins would be delivered in April.
The managing agent had not cleared the rear bin store, so they were left outside. The new bins then went missing, but the Council does not appear to have communicated this to Mr X when it became aware.
Mr X continued to communicate with the Council during June, the communal bins to the front of the property were still present and the bin store remained empty of new bins.
At the end of June, the Council advised Mr X the communal bins should be removed within a week and agreed to monitor the situation.
Mr X confirmed in mid-July that collections to the rear of the property were still not happening and the last general refuse bin outside the front of the property remained.
In response to my enquiries, the Council confirmed new bins were eventually delivered, free of charge, at the beginning of August and that refuse and recycling collections had been happening ever since.
In September, Mr X advised all communal bins had now been removed and that the rear bin store was operational but not being collected from. He provided evidence to support this.
The Council has since confirmed there have been issues with the collection service but that these have been resolved.
Analysis Communication between Mr X and the Council in the summer of 2020 had no effect in sorting out the issues. The Council admitted fault in its stage one complaint response to Mr X and offered him a time and trouble payment which he accepted.
It then took from November 2021 to September 2022 to resolve the situation.
The Council cannot be held responsible for the managing agents not being able to afford the bins, the bin store not being ready to house new bins and the bins going missing. However, despite repeated communication with Mr X during the period of April to the end of June, the Council does not appear to have been clear on the fact the bins had gone missing which was why the communal bins were still there and the collections had not started from the rear. This lack of communication is likely to have added to the distress and frustration Mr X had already suffered. I find fault in the Council’s actions here.
The Council agreed to monitor the situation but it is unclear if this took place as initial responses to my enquiries were vague on what the exact position was. This will have further added to the difficulties Mr X was facing getting his refuse collected.
The Council then confirmed to me the bin store was operational and being collected from since the beginning of August. Mr X has contradicted this with photographic evidence. Based on the evidence I have seen, I am satisfied the bins were not being collected as the Council claimed. This is fault.
The Council has since confirmed there were issues but these have been resolved. Given the difficulties faced by Mr X so far, it is unclear if the collection service will now run as scheduled. The Council should monitor this.
Agreed action
In remedy of the issues Mr X has faced, the Council has agreed, within one month, to: apologise to Mr X for the continued distress he has faced in having the issue resolved; and pay Mr X a further £50 to acknowledge the continued time and trouble taken in dealing with the issue. Our Guidance on Remedies would recommend the Council pay Mr X £100. It has already paid Mr X £50 and therefore a further £50 is a suitable remedy.
The Council will monitor the collection arrangements for the rear bin store for a period of three months. A senior manager will review progress periodically during this time and at the end of the three months. If problems have continued, an action plan will be put in place.
Final decision
I have now completed my investigation and uphold this complaint with a finding of fault causing an injustice.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman