Warrington Council (19 009 001)

Category : Environment and regulation > Trees

Decision : Closed after initial enquiries

Decision date : 25 Feb 2020

The Ombudsman's final decision:

Summary: Mrs X complained about the Council’s refusal to remove tree growth from her boundary with a park. The Ombudsman should not investigate this complaint. This is because there is no evidence of fault by the Council which would warrant an investigation.

The complaint

  1. The complainant, whom I shall call Mrs X, complains about the Council failing to remove trees which she says are overhanging her property boundary and causing loss of daylight. The trees also encourage undergrowth which encroaches on her garden.

Back to top

The Ombudsman’s role and powers

  1. We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. In this statement, I have used the word ‘fault’ to refer to these. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse impact on the person making the complaint. I refer to this as ‘injustice’. We provide a free service, but must use public money carefully. We may decide not to start or continue with an investigation if we believe:
  • it is unlikely we would find fault, or
  • it is unlikely we could add to any previous investigation by the Council, or
  • it is unlikely further investigation will lead to a different outcome.

(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)

Back to top

How I considered this complaint

  1. I have considered all the information which Mrs X submitted with her complaint. I have also considered the Council’s response.

Back to top

What I found

  1. Mrs X lives next to a Council-owned park which has trees on its boundary with her street. She says that over the past decades the trees have grown to overshadow her property and allow branches and undergrowth to cause problems. She asked the Council to remove the trees nearest her boundary, but it refused to do so. The Council says the trees are healthy and provide amenity and it would only cut back some of the branches and shoots.
  2. Mrs X says she can no longer cut back branches overhanging her property without professional help because of the height of the trees. We investigate complaints of injustice caused by ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. I have used the word ‘fault’ to refer to these. We cannot question whether a council’s decision is right or wrong simply because the complainant disagrees with it. We must consider whether there was fault in the way the decision was reached. The Council has inspected the trees but does not believe they require removal. If Mrs X believes the trees are a nuisance or are causing damage to her property, she could seek a remedy in the courts.

Back to top

Final decision

  1. The Ombudsman should not investigate this complaint. This is because there is no evidence of fault by the Council which would warrant an investigation.

Investigator’s final decision on behalf of the Ombudsman

Back to top

Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman

Print this page

LGO logogram

Review your privacy settings

Required cookies

These cookies enable the website to function properly. You can only disable these by changing your browser preferences, but this will affect how the website performs.

View required cookies

Analytical cookies

Google Analytics cookies help us improve the performance of the website by understanding how visitors use the site.
We recommend you set these 'ON'.

View analytical cookies

In using Google Analytics, we do not collect or store personal information that could identify you (for example your name or address). We do not allow Google to use or share our analytics data. Google has developed a tool to help you opt out of Google Analytics cookies.

Privacy settings