Wirral Metropolitan Borough Council (26 014 838)
Category : Environment and regulation > Antisocial behaviour
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 22 Sep 2026
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about how the Council dealt with a high hedge report. This is because part of the complaint is made late and other matters need to first be raised through the Council’s complaints procedure.
The complaint
- X complains about how the Council dealt with their report about a high hedge. X says the Council initially tried to overcharge them for the service, has failed to act on the report and has mishandled their subsequent complaints.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
- The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
- We cannot investigate late complaints unless we decide there are good reasons. Late complaints are when someone takes more than 12 months to complain to us about something a council has done. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26B and 34D, as amended)
How I considered this complaint
- I considered information provided by the complainant.
- I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
- X complained to the Council about the initial handling of their high hedge application. In March 2025, the Council issued a final response in which it signposted X to us. X complained to us in August 2026.
- I will not investigate X’s complaint about the Council’s actions up to August 2025, including the issues addressed in the Council’s response sent to X in March 2025, this is because X’s complaint about these matters is made late and I see no good reason why they could not have complained to us sooner.
- X says that they are also complaining about recent actions by the Council, and the Council has said that communication with X about the issue is ongoing. I will not investigate X’s complaint about the actions of the Council since August 2025. This is because these matters are premature and X will first need to raise these through the Council’s complaints procedure before raising a new complaint with us.
- It is not a good use of public resources to investigate complaints about complaint procedures if we are unable to deal with the substantive issue.
Final decision
- We will not investigate X’s complaint because it is either made late or first needs to be raised through the Council’s complaints procedure.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman