Suffolk County Council (21 002 278)

Category : Environment and regulation > Trees

Decision : Not upheld

Decision date : 07 Jan 2022

The Ombudsman's final decision:

Summary: Miss X complained the Council failed to remove or properly cut back a tree near to her home. The Ombudsman has not found fault with the Council’s decision-making.

The complaint

  1. Miss X complained the Council failed to remove or properly cut back a tree near to her home.
  2. Miss X said the tree blocks sunlight to her home and is unsafe - posing a risk of injury and damage to her property.

Back to top

The Ombudsman’s role and powers

  1. 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. (Local Government Act 1974, section 34(3), as amended)
  2. If we are satisfied with a council’s actions or proposed actions, we can complete our investigation and issue a decision statement. (Local Government Act 1974, section 30(1B) and 34H(i), as amended)

Back to top

How I considered this complaint

  1. As part of the investigation, I have considered the following:
    • The complaint and the documents provided by the complainant.
    • Documents provided by the Council and its comments in response to my enquiries.
    • The Council’s Highway Maintenance Operational Plan (July 2019).
  2. Miss X and the Council had an opportunity to comment on my draft decision. I considered any comments received before making a final decision.

Back to top

What I found

  1. The Council categorises the priority of tree and vegetation maintenance based on the risk it poses.
  2. Category one risks are the most serious, such as a tree threatening the highway or likely to collide with vehicles. The Council aims to respond within two hours.
  3. Category seven risks are the lowest priority. This includes work requiring a specialist assessment. The Council classes this as potential future work and does not set a timeframe for its response.

What happened

  1. I have detailed below some of the key events leading to Miss X’s complaint. This is not intended to be a detailed account of what took place
  2. Miss X contacted the Council on 18 May 2020 with concerns about a tree behind her home. She said it is blocking light and almost touching her house.
  3. On 24 June, Miss X told the Council branches regularly fall into her garden and her niece choked on debris from the tree. The Council said it would pass the details to its contractor to assess the tree.
  4. Miss X chased the Council for an update on 25 August. The Council said it put the work on hold until the bird nesting season finished at the end of August. It said it would add the tree to a list of upcoming assessments.
  5. Miss X complained to the Council on 14 September. She said branches were falling into her garden, resulting in damage to a trampoline and to the grass. She asked the Council to cut the tree down.
  6. The Council’s relevant asset manager reviewed photographs of the tree Miss X complained about on 16 October 2020. They considered the tree looked fairly healthy, but a branch leaning over Miss X’s garden was at risk of breaking off in high winds.
  7. The Council told Miss X its contractor visited but could not find the tree Miss X complained about. It asked Miss X for permission to assess the tree from her garden.
  8. The Council’s contractor assessed the tree between December 2020 and January 2021. They considered the tree was in a healthy condition overall, but with some deadwood which needed clearing, as well as a large limb protruding and overhanging Miss X’s garden which required removal. They did not consider major works were required as over-pruning could create issues in future.
  9. The Council arranged for works to be completed on 25 February 2021.
  10. Miss X contacted the Council on 25 March. She was unhappy the Council only cut one branch from the tree. She said the branch overhanging her property is still there.
  11. Internal Council emails from 26 March state it completed the tree works as planned. An officer considered the tree was in good condition and multiple branches were removed. They considered that if the Council agreed to cut the tree down Miss X’s neighbours would also want trees cutting down at the back of their homes as well.
  12. Miss X sent photographs of the tree to the Council’s complaints department on 8 April. She said the Council gave false information about the work it did.
  13. The Council wrote to Miss X on 20 April. It said:
    • It will only cut down healthy trees in exceptional circumstances.
    • An arboriculturist assessed the tree behind Miss X’s home to be in good health and sound.
    • Its contractors removed any potentially dangerous limbs and loose deadwood.
    • Further work could result in the health of the tree declining and could cause further problems.
    • It had no legal obligation to remove branches which cross property boundaries, it assesses them on a case-by-case basis.
  14. Miss X said she gave the Council evidence showing branches still fell and the tree is not safe.
  15. The Council sent its final complaint response on 22 April. It said it had completed its consideration of Miss X’s complaint and confirmed its final position. It said Miss X could complain to the Ombudsman if she remained unhappy.

Response to enquiries

  1. The Council told us it removed overhanging limbs and deadwood from the tree behind Miss X’s home. The tree was assessed to be in a good, healthy condition, so cutting it down was not necessary.
  2. The Council considers trees to be an important ecological asset, so it tries to avoid removing them. It will only do so if a tree is dead, dying, diseased, unstable, unsafe, or posing a threat to the public.
  3. The Council judged the work in this case fell into category seven. The tree needed to be assessed but it was not urgent or an emergency.
  4. The Council said its actions were in line with its policy and were correct in this case.

Analysis

  1. It is not the role of the Ombudsman to take on the Council’s decision-making responsibility and re-make its decision. We must consider how the Council reached its decision and whether it followed a proper process.
  2. The Council’s relevant policy does not give a timescale for work of this kind. While there was a delay by the Council in arranging an assessment, it did give a reason for this, and the delay was not contrary to the Council’s policy.
  3. A professional assessment of the tree concluded it was in good health and did not need to be completely removed. In line with that assessment, the Council arranged for an overhanging branch to be cut back.
  4. Miss X considers the tree still poses a risk, and should be cut back further, or removed altogether. The Council refused. It gave weight to the opinion of a qualified professional above Miss X’s evidence.
  5. The Council will only remove a tree as a last resort, and if it poses a serious enough risk. If the Council had agreed to remove the tree in this case, it would have done so against professional advice. I therefore do not consider the Council was at fault for refusing.
  6. While I do not dismiss Miss X’s complaint, I have not seen evidence of fault in the Council’s approach.
  7. On the evidence seen, the Council properly responded to Miss X’s complaint. It considered the evidence Miss X gave and arranged for a suitably qualified professional to examine the tree. It then carried out work in line with professional advice.
  8. If Miss X still considers the council owned tree will cause damage to her or her property she has the right to take legal action.

Back to top

Final decision

  1. I have completed my investigation. The Ombudsman has not found fault with the Council’s decision-making.

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