Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about the Council’s decision not to remove two trees next to Mr X’s property. The 2019 events in Mr X’s complaint are late and there are no good reasons to investigate them now. There is not enough evidence of fault in the Council’s 2021 decision‑making process to warrant us investigating.

The complaint

1. Mrs X’s property backs on to Council-owned land. There are two trees on the border. Mr X complains the Council has decided not to remove the trees. He wants the Council to fell them or prune them right back.

Back to top

The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. 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)
3. The Ombudsman investigates complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’, which we call ‘fault’. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse impact on the person making the complaint, which we call ‘injustice’. We provide a free service, but must use public money carefully. We do not start or may decide not to continue with an investigation if we decide there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6))
4. 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)

Back to top

How I considered this complaint

5. I considered information from Mr X, and the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

Back to top

My assessment

6. Mr X moved into his property in summer 2019. He commissioned a tree survey later that year. He first complained to the Council about the trees in 2019. The Council responded to the complaint, providing a final reply at stage three of their complaints process. Mr X continued to contact various Council departments about the trees. He brought his complaint to the Ombudsman in October 2021.
7. We expect people to complain to us within 12 months of their becoming aware of the problem complained of, otherwise the complaint is late. If Mr X was not happy with the Council’s responses to his complaint in autumn 2019, he should have complained to us at that time, and within 12 months. His further contacts with the Council indicate he would have been able to bring his complaint to us instead. Any complaint about those 2019 events is now late. There are no good reasons to investigate now because the matter has moved on, with recent actions by the Council in 2021 regarding the trees.
8. In response to Mr X’s further contacts in 2021, the Council sent an officer to re‑inspect the trees. They found no significant deadwood, crown dieback, significant structural problems or disease. The Council confirmed they had taken account of Mr X’s 2019 tree survey, and repeated their position that the trees do not need to be removed.
9. I recognise Mr X wants the trees pruned right back or removed. But the Council’s officers have determined, in their professional judgement, that this is not required. To reach that judgement, the Council’s officer visited the trees and inspected them again. That was an appropriate process for the Council to follow to reach its decision, in response to Mr X’s concerns.
10. We can only go behind a council’s decision if there is fault in the process it followed which, but for that fault, it would have made a different decision. There is not enough evidence of such fault here by the Council to warrant us going behind the Council’s decision and investigating. I realise Mr X disagrees with the Council’s view. But it is not fault for a council to properly make a decision with which someone disagrees.
11. I note Mr X says the Council has not responded to his 2019 tree survey. But the Council is entitled to rely on its own officers’ professional judgement to make its decisions, which it has done here. In any event, the Council’s position is in line with the tree survey, which recommended in 2019 the trees be removed within the next ten years, a period which will not elapse until 2029.

Back to top

Final decision

12. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because:
• the 2019 events in the complaint are late and there are no good reasons to investigate them now; and
• there is not enough evidence of fault in the Council’s 2021 decision-making process to justify us investigating.

Back to top

Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman