Wirral Metropolitan Borough Council (26 001 778)
Category : Environment and regulation > Other
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 20 Jul 2026
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about the Council allegedly failing to apply regulations correctly when it assessed the removal of a hedgerow. The hedge has also been replaced, so investigation by us would be unlikely to lead to a different or worthwhile outcome.
The complaint
- Mr X says the Council failed to apply regulations correctly when assessing the removal of a hedgerow. He says this caused him significant time and trouble to pursue the matter, and that the removal of the hedge caused environmental harm.
- Mr X also says the Council failed to deal properly with his complaint.
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:
- any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement, or
- further investigation would not lead to a different outcome, 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 the complainant and the Council.
- I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
- Mr X has confirmed the hedgerow has been replanted with native species. Were we to investigate and find fault, it is unlikely we would recommend more than that. We would be unlikely to investigate in order to recommend the Council reconsiders the matter or acknowledges Mr X’s time and trouble in pursuing it.
- It is not a good use of public resources to consider how the Council dealt with a complaint where we are not investigating the substantive matter.
Final decision
- We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because that would be unlikely to lead to a different or worthwhile outcome.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman