The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate Mrs B’s complaint about the Council not sweeping the footpaths on her road. This is because Mrs B has not suffered a serious or significant injustice which would justify an investigation by the Ombudsman.
The complaint
Mrs B complains the Council has not swept the footpaths on her road since nuts fell from trees last August. Mrs B says the Council says it has swept the paths, but the nuts, which are hard to walk over, are still there. Mrs B would like the Council to sweep the paths or cut the trees down.
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 any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B)) This means we will normally only investigate a complaint where the complainant has suffered serious loss, harm, or distress as a direct result of faults or failures. We will not normally investigate a complaint where the alleged loss or injustice is not a serious or significant matter.
How I considered this complaint
I considered information provided by Mrs B including a photograph of the issue she complains about.
I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
The Council says it has been sweeping this road regularly since October 2023 and it has photographs of a visit in March 2024, which shows no debris was left on the footpaths. Mrs B says there are still nuts on the footpaths.
We could investigate how the Council has been sweeping these footpaths. But, I find an investigation is not justified.
This is because Mrs B has not been caused a serious or significant injustice which would justify public money being spent on an investigation by the Ombudsman.
Mrs B’s photograph shows some debris which has accumulated to one side of a footpath. But, this does not suggest this footpath cannot be used. So, further involvement by the Ombudsman is not justified.
Final decision
We will not investigate Mrs B’s complaint because she has not suffered a significant injustice which would justify an investigation.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman