Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s decision to require the removal of stone edging from a burial plot. This is because there is insufficient evidence of fault on the Council’s part to warrant investigation.

The complaint

1. The complainant, Miss X, complains that the Council is at fault in requiring her to remove stone edging she has installed at a burial plot.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’, which we call ‘fault’. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse effect 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 the tests set out in our Assessment Code are not met. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

3. I considered information provided by the complainant.
4. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

5. Miss X says she purchased an ashes burial plot at the Council’s cemetery in July 2024 and subsequently replaced plastic edging around the plot with stone.
6. Miss X complains that in November 2024 the Council instructed her to remove the edging. She disputes the grounds on which it does so. Specifically, she says that other plots have stone edging and have done so for several years. That being the case, she believes the Council is targeting her individually.
7. The Ombudsman will not investigate Miss X’s complaint because there is insufficient evidence of fault on the Council’s part. It is not for us to say whether Miss X is entitled to install stone edging at her plot. That is a matter for the Council. Miss X disagrees with the Council’s decision but that does not mean it amounts to fault.
8. The Council’s complaint response sets out that a senior officer carried out a site visit before responding to Miss X. The response properly set out the Council’s decision that the edging must be removed and the grounds on which the decision was made. There is no evidence of fault in the way the Council reached its view. That being the case, the Ombudsman cannot intervene to criticise the Council’s decision or to substitute an alternative view.
9. Whether other owners have been treated more favourably than Miss X is not a matter for the Ombudsman. The question for us is whether there is evidence of fault in the way the Council treated Miss X, and there is no such evidence. The Council has said that it is pursuing the removal of unauthorised edging with other owners, and we have no reason to doubt that this is the case. There are no grounds for us to intervene.

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Final decision

10. We will not investigate Miss X’s complaint because there is insufficient evidence of fault on the Council’s part.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman