Foreword
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I am laying this report before Parliament under section 10(4) of the Parliamentary Commissioner Act 1967.
The report relates to an investigation which I have conducted as Parliamentary Ombudsman jointly with the Local Government Ombudsman, Anne Seex, in accordance with the powers conferred on us by amendments to our legislation due to the Regulatory Reform (Collaboration etc. between Ombudsmen) Order 2007.
The complaint, made by a woman and her son,* was that the relevant authorities, namely the Environment Agency, Lancashire County Council and Rossendale Borough Council, had failed both individually and jointly over a seven-year period to take appropriate action to prevent their neighbour from using his land as an illegal landfill site. As a result, the woman and her son had found it impossible to live peacefully in their family home, yet had been unable to sell it. The neighbour’s illegal activities had also made the landscape, which had been a local beauty spot, unrecognisable.
Our investigation found that the relevant authorities failed to take urgent or robust enforcement action, despite the very evident and unacceptable activities taking place on the neighbouring farm. They also failed to work together, despite the existence of a national protocol between the Environment Agency and the Local Government Association which clearly required a co-ordinated joint approach on waste enforcement. The consequence of that failing was a significant failure of all the safeguards introduced by Parliament to protect citizens and the environment from uncontrolled waste operations. Being able to undertake a joint investigation and issue a joint report with the Local Government Ombudsman has allowed us to consider maladministration and injustice in the round. We have been able to make joint recommendations which address individual remedy for the complainants. Moreover, we have made joint recommendations for the central and local government bodies to implement individually and jointly to prevent recurrence of their maladministration.
Ann Abraham
Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman
January 2010
* Names of the complainants are not included in the report to protect their identity.
