Herefordshire Council (19 018 440)
Category : Environment and regulation > Trees
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 18 Mar 2020
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: Mr X complains the Council the Council has misled him and wrongly decided to prosecute him. The Ombudsman will not investigate his complaint as the matters complained of have been considered by the courts and are therefore outside our jurisdiction. Also, his complaint is too late.
The complaint
- Mr X complains:
- The Council has been unhelpful and providing misleading information about the legality of a Tree Preservation Order (TPO)
- About the Council’s decision to prosecute him relating to a TPO
- The Council failed to properly register a TPO
He wants compensation to cover all his costs
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)
- We cannot investigate a complaint if someone has started court action about the matter. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(6)(c), as amended)
How I considered this complaint
- I considered the information provided by Mr X including the Council’s response to him.
What I found
- The law says we may not investigate any complaint where the complainant was aware of the matter more than 12 months previously. But we may exercise discretion to investigate if there are good reasons to do so.
- It also says we may not investigate matter which have been considered as part of criminal or civil proceedings.
- Mr X has been aware of the matter he complains about for more than 4 years. The Council prosecuted him for unauthorised work on protected trees. He has also taken out private legal proceedings against the Council.
Final decision
- The Ombudsman cannot investigate this complaint. His complaint is late and the substantive issue has been subject to legal proceedings therefore the complaint is outside our jurisdiction.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman