Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about how the Council dealt with concerns about his neighbour’s trees. This is because we have not seen evidence of fault. And personal injury claims are matters for the courts.

The complaint

1. The complainant, I shall call Mr X complains the Council refuses to deal with his concerns about trees in his neighbour’s garden. He says the trees are dangerous and caused him to suffer a serious eye injury.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. 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)

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

3. The law says we cannot normally investigate a complaint when someone could take the matter to court. However, we may decide to investigate if we consider it would be unreasonable to expect the person to go to court. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(6)(c), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

4. I considered information provided by Mr X and the Council.
5. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

6. Mr X says the trees in his neighbour’s garden are overgrown. He says the neighbour has hacked at the trees leaving dead branches and he was hit in the eye and sustained a serious injury.
7. The Council has explained to Mr X that under the Anti-Social Behaviour Act 2003 Part 8 High Hedges, neighbours must try to resolve any dispute about a hedge between themselves. This includes speaking to the neighbours or taking part in mediation. After all attempts to resolve the problem are exhausted, Mr X can ask the Council to intervene. There is a non-refundable charge of £500 for this service and it only applies to hedges, not individual trees, or groups of trees.
8. The Council has also advised Mr X that he may cut branches which overhang his garden back to the boundary. If he does so, he should offer the branches back to his neighbour and should not throw them back over the fence without notice.
9. Mr X suggests the Council should pay him compensation for his eye injury. However, personal injury claims are a matter for insurers and ultimately the courts, not the Ombudsman.

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Final decision

10. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because we have not seen evidence of fault in the way the Council responded to Mr X’s complaint. And we cannot determine personal injury claims – these are matters for the courts.

Investigator’s decision on behalf of the Ombudsman

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman