Decision Report 201609191

Summary

Mr C told us he had been complaining to the council for a number of years about the lack of street cleaning at his business address. He told us that the council have insisted that the street is cleaned regularly. However, he has seen the same rubbish lying there for weeks. In the council's final response to Mr C's complaint, they advised that the litter on his street was due to uncontained refuse from adjacent sites. They told him that the street is scheduled to be swept on Saturdays, and they will continue to monitor the area. Mr C said the situation did not improve and he tried to complain to the council again five months later. The council advised that he had already exhausted the complaints process.

Our investigation found that the council had failed to clean the street, as Mr C reported seeing the same rubbish lying there for several weeks. Where the rubbish had come from was irrelevant. It was also evident that the steps taken by the council following their investigation had been ineffective, as the problem persisted. We upheld the complaint.

Recommendations

What we asked the organisation to do in this case:

• The council should monitor the area for a period of four weeks

We have asked the organisation to provide us with evidence that they have implemented the recommendations we have made on this case by the deadline we set.