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Stoke-on-Trent City Council (202208976)

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REPORT

COMPLAINT 202208976

Stoke-on-Trent City Council

25 August 2023


Our approach

What we can and cannot consider is called the Ombudsman’s jurisdiction and is governed by the Housing Ombudsman Scheme. The Ombudsman must determine whether a complaint comes within their jurisdiction. The Ombudsman seeks to resolve disputes wherever possible but cannot investigate complaints that fall outside of this. 

In deciding whether a complaint falls within their jurisdiction, the Ombudsman will carefully consider all the evidence provided by the parties and the circumstances of the case.

The complaint

  1. The complaint is about the landlord’s handling of the resident’s reports of antisocial behaviour (ASB) from a community garden and play park.

Determination (jurisdictional decision)

  1. When a complaint is brought to the Ombudsman, we must consider all the circumstances of the case as there are sometimes reasons why a complaint will not be investigated.
  2. After carefully considering all the evidence, I have determined that the complaint, as set out above, is not within the Ombudsman’s jurisdiction.

Summary of events

  1. Between March and April 2022, the resident contacted the landlord and reported children playing football and causing noise all through the day and night in the community gardens near her house. She felt that it was unsafe and wanted the gates to the gardens to be locked at night.
  2. On 28 July 2022 the resident raised a formal complaint with the landlord. In summary, she said that the ASB had been going on for years and that it had not been dealt with. She explained that the gates to the garden used to be locked every night at 6.30pm. She mentioned that the gardens were approved through the local authority’s planning process with conditions that stated the gates should be locked at night.
  3. The landlord issued its stage 1 response on 4 August 2022. It said that it had gone to lengths to investigate her complaints and it had exhausted all options and that there was insufficient evidence.
  4. In the resident’s escalation request she said she had provided video evidence and noise recordings and that the police had footage of children throwing bricks at her windows. She said the garden was 8ft away from her house and there was no security, and that the situation was affecting her health.
  5. The landlord issued its final response on 28 September 2022. It said that the local authority took responsibility for the park in 2008 and that a local resident voluntarily locked the park at night, but this had stopped. It explained that the resident’s complaint had focused on the garden not being locked as the main cause of the ASB. It stated that the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman (LGSCO) had investigated a previous complaint from the resident in 2016 about the local authority’s handling of ASB at the location and had also considered the issue of whether the garden should be locked. It added that it had been unable to take any formal action as there was no robust evidence of any statutory nuisance and that it had offered to support the resident with a move. Its response provided referral rights to the LGSCO.
  6. The resident brought her complaint to the Housing Ombudsman on 28 September 2022. She said that planning permission was granted for the community gardens on the basis that the gates to the garden would be locked at night and that the landlord should be responsible for upholding this planning condition.

Reasons

  1. The Housing Ombudsman Scheme sets out the type of complaints that this service can and cannot consider.
  2. Paragraph 42(k) of the Scheme states that the Ombudsman may not consider complaints which, in the Ombudsman’s opinion: fall properly within the jurisdiction of another Ombudsman, regulator or complaint-handling body.
  3. The complaint involves reported ASB from a community garden and play park that is adjacent to the resident’s property. The Ombudsman understands that the garden and play park is managed by the local authority, but not as part of its landlord function.
  4. The Housing Ombudsman can consider complaints about a local authority such as Stoke-on-Trent City Council in connection with its housing activities, insofar as they relate to the provision or management of housing. Issues that come under a local authority’s broader public service functions are not within the Housing Ombudsman’s jurisdiction to consider. Where a complaint involves such broader functions, this would fall under the jurisdiction of the LGSCO.
  5. The LGSCO previously investigated this substantive issue in 2016. Additionally, the resident believes that the local authority is not acting in accordance with planning conditions by leaving the gate to the gardens unlocked at night. Matters relating to a potential planning breach should be considered by the LGSCO.
  6. This complaint, therefore, falls properly within the jurisdiction of the LGSCO and as such is outside the jurisdiction of this service to consider under paragraph 42(k). The LGSCO can be contacted by visiting www.lgo.org.uk or by telephoning 0300 061 0614.