Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about noise during communal refuse collections which disturbs the complainant’s child. This is because there is insufficient evidence of fault causing injustice.

The complaint

1. The complainant, Ms X, says the Council is discriminating against her child by not making reasonable adjustments in relation to the refuse collections. Ms X wants the Council to change the collection regime, apologise and pay compensation of £34,000.

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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 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 fault has not caused injustice to the person who complained, or
• any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement.

(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))

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How I considered this complaint

3. I considered information provided by Ms X and the Council. This includes the complaint correspondence and information on the Council’s website. I also considered our Assessment Code.

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My assessment

4. Due to a lack of space, households in Ms X’s street have communal bins. There are bins at both ends of the street. The Council collects rubbish from the bins every other day and recycling once a week. In communal collection areas the frequency of collections is determined by demand.
5. Ms X’s child is disturbed and upset by noise during the collections. Ms X says the crew deliberately make excessive noise and empty the bins too often. Ms X wants the Council to give 48 hours notice of any activity, to reduce the collections to once a week, and arrange for letters to be sent to residents telling them not to use the bins nearest her home. Ms X also wants an apology and compensation for discrimination.
6. In response to the complaint the Council accepted the collections cause noise. It explained the frequency of the collections and that it would not be possible to give 48 hours notice of activity. The Council suggested Ms X speak to her landlord to find out if she could move somewhere quieter.
7. While considering the complaint I found that the Council’s website said the street has weekly refuse collections. The Council told me the information is wrong and reflects the schedule before communal collections started. The Council will correct the website so that it accurately states there are collections are other day.
8. I appreciate Ms X’s child is affected by the noise and finds it distressing. However, I will not start an investigation because there is insufficient evidence of fault causing injustice. The Council provides communal collections due to a lack of space; they are more frequent than household collections but there is a good reason for communal collections. The Council has a duty to collect waste and all refuse collections cause unavoidable noise. There are more collections than would be the case with individual bins, but this is due to the volume of waste generated by the residents. For these reasons, there is nothing to suggest fault in the way the Council provides the service and Ms X has not provided evidence the crews deliberately cause excess noise. Ms X has explained the actions she would like the Council to take but I see nothing to suggest fault in the way the Council responded and explained that her requests are not possible.
9. Ms X says the Council has discriminated against her child by not providing reasonable adjustments. The Council considered her requests but decided they were not reasonable and that was an assessment it was entitled to make.
10. There was an error because the Council did not update the website to correctly show the frequency of communal collections. This does not need an investigation because the Council will correct the webpage and there is no evidence the error caused a significant injustice.

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Final decision

11. We will not investigate this complaint because there is insufficient evidence of fault causing injustice.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman