City of Wolverhampton Council (24 019 214)
Category : Environment and regulation > Other
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 10 Apr 2025
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s maintenance of trees, grass and shrubbery. This is because there is insufficient evidence of fault causing significant injustice to the complainant, and we are unlikely to add anything more to the Council’s response.
The complaint
- Mr X complains that the Council failed to adequately carry out maintenance of trees, grass and shrubs close to his home.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
- We investigate 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 continue an investigation if we decide:
- there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating, or
- any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement, or
- we could not add to any previous investigation by the organisation, or
- there is no worthwhile outcome achievable by our investigation.
(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B).)
How I considered this complaint
- I considered information provided by Mr X and the Council, and the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
- Mr X said the Council had not carried out maintenance of trees, grass and shrubs according to a timetable that was agreed with him. Mr X says the lack of maintenance affected the streetlighting in the area and prevented access.
- The Council apologised to Mr X for the delays, which it said were because of weather conditions. The Council now says it has completed the maintenance and will review the programme of work.
- There is not enough evidence of fault, nor evidence of serious loss, harm or distress, to justify further investigation. The Council’s actions also mean it is unlikely further investigation would add anything more, or achieve a different outcome.
Final decision
- We will not investigate this complaint. This is because there is insufficient evidence of fault causing significant injustice to warrant investigation, and we are unlikely to add anything to the Council’s response.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman