Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about how the Council dealt with the complainants request for a Tree Preservation Order. This is because there is no evidence of fault in how the Council dealt with the matter and the issue does not cause the complainant a personal injustice.

The complaint

1. The complainant, who I will call Mr X, complains about how the Council dealt with his request for a Tree Preservation Order (TPO) for trees on a site that is subject to a planning application.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. The Ombudsman investigates 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 or may decide not to continue with 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))

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How I considered this complaint

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

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My assessment

5. Mr X asked the Council to implement a TPO on over 700 trees on a site near his home. The site is subject to a planning application which is currently being considered by the Council.
6. The Council said Mr X’s request would not be considered until after a decision had been made on the planning application. The Council said this is because even if a TPO was in place it could be overridden by the planning process. Therefore, it made more sense to consider the planning application first, then consider if any trees needed formal protection after. The Council said that there was no immediate threat to the trees.
7. I will not investigate Mr X’s complaint. This is because the Council has considered Mr X’s request for a TPO and decided it should be considered after the current planning application. It has fully explained and justified this decision to Mr X, and I see no fault in how it did so.
8. Furthermore, I do not consider the Council’s actions have caused Mr X a personal injustice. This is because no decision has yet been made about the future of any of the trees in question.

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Final decision

9. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because there is insufficient evidence of fault and no evidence that the Council’s decision has caused Mr X a significant personal injustice.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman