The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about a business keeping its bins adjacent to the complainant’s house. This is because there is insufficient evidence of fault by the Council and insufficient evidence of injustice.
The complaint
The complainant, whom I refer to as Ms X, complains about the Council’s response after she reported that her neighbour, a business, keeps its bins on the path next to her wall. Ms X wants the Council to force the shop to keep the bins elsewhere.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
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 an investigation if we decide: there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating, or any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement.
(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6))
How I considered this complaint
I considered information provided by Ms X and the Council. This includes the complaint correspondence and photographs Ms X sent to the Council. I also considered our Assessment Code and invited Ms X to comment on a draft of this decision.
My assessment
Ms X lives next to a shop. The shop keeps two bins on the path next to Ms X’s garden wall. Ms X complained to the Council. She said the bins spoil the appearance of her home and she should not have to look at them. She said the shop could keep the bins at the back of the property. Ms X also said the behaviour was encouraging other people to leave their bins out.
The Council visited the shop. The Council told Ms X the shop was complying with its legal duties by having a weekly commercial waste collection. The Council told Ms X that the area where the shop keeps the bins is not part of the adopted public highway so there is no enforcement action it can take. The Council explained the bins do not cause an obstruction but it invited Ms X to report a statutory nuisance if there is a problem with smells from the bins. The Council also said the owner had explained they could not store the bins at the rear of the shop but officers had explored other options such as the use of bags. This, however, was not possible due to vermin. The Council said it had written to other premises about leaving out the bins.
I will not investigate this complaint because there is insufficient evidence of fault by the Council. The Council responded appropriately by visiting and then explaining why it cannot take enforcement action and that the shop is complying with its legal duties. Ms X wants the Council to do more, and is dissatisfied with the outcome, but the Council’s response does not amount to fault. We are not an appeal body and we cannot intervene unless there is fault.
I also will not start an investigation because there is insufficient evidence of injustice. Ms X does not like looking at the bins and says there can be a nuisance if they blow over. But, the arrangement is not dissimilar to the thousands of people who store their bins in their front gardens where they are visible to their neighbours and can cause problems if they are blown around in the wind.
Final decision
We will not investigate this complaint because there is insufficient evidence of fault by the Council and insufficient evidence of injustice.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman