Summary: The Ombudsman will not investigate this complaint that planning decisions by the Council has put the complainant’s tree at risk. It is unlikely he would find fault by the Council has caused the complainant significant injustice.

The complaint

1. The complainant, who I refer to here as Mr X, has complained that planning decisions by the Council have put a tree in his garden at risk.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. 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’.
3. We provide a free service but must use public money carefully. We may decide not to start an investigation if, for example, we believe:

• it is unlikely we would find fault;
• the fault has not caused injustice to the person who complained; or
• any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

4. I have considered what Mr X said in his complaint, background information provided by the Council and information on the Council’s website. Mr X commented on a draft before I made this decision.

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What I found

5. Mr X previously complained to us about a planning application (Application A) for development next to his home and we decided we would not investigate it. We will not consider another complaint about Application A now.
6. Mr X has referred to a later application (Application B) to discharge conditions attached to the planning permission granted under Application A. However none of those conditions to be discharged related to trees on the development site or the tree on Mr X’s land. For this reason, we will not investigate a complaint about Application B.
7. Mr X has also referred to a recent application, Application C, which is partly retrospective. As it has not been decided yet, we cannot come to any meaningful view on whether fault by the Council in dealing with Application C has caused Mr X injustice.
8. Moreover, if there were to be any damage to Mr X’s tree, this would be a private matter between Mr X and who ever damaged the tree. The granting of planning permission for development does not make the Council responsible for private matters or affect Mr X’s private rights.

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Final decision

9. I have decided we will not investigate this complaint. This is because we are unlikely to find fault by the Council has caused Mr X significant injustice.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman