Summary: We will not investigate Mrs Y’s complaint about the Council’s decision not to cut back trees it owns which overhang her garden. There is not enough evidence of fault in the Council’s decision‑making process to go behind its decision and investigate. A Council-owned tree trunk breaking Mrs Y’s fence is a property damage claim, and a matter for the Council’s insurers and the courts.

The complaint

1. Mrs X complains, on behalf of her elderly and disabled mother Mrs Y, that:
1. the Council is not taking responsibility for cutting back trees it owns which overhang Mrs Y’s garden;
2. a Council-owned tree trunk has grown through and damaged Mrs Y’s fence.
2. Mrs X says the matter has caused Mrs Y stress and anxiety, and the large trees block light to her house, which affects Mrs Y’s mental health. She wants the Council to pay for the trees to be cut back severely.

Back to top

The Ombudsman’s role and powers

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, or
• there is another body better placed to consider a complaint.

(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 provided by Mrs X, and the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

Back to top

My assessment

6. We can only criticise a council’s decision if there is evidence of fault in the process officers followed to reach it, and if not for that fault, there would have been a different outcome. There is not enough evidence of such fault here for us to go behind the Council’s decision and to warrant us investigating.
7. In reaching their decision not to do work to the tree, officers considered the evidence provided by Mrs X, including photographs. They

Back to top

Final decision

8. We will not investigate this complaint because:
• there is not enough evidence of fault by the Council to criticise its decision not to do work to the trees;
• the claim of damage done by the tree to Mrs Y’s fence is a property damage matter for the Council’s insurers or the courts.

Back to top

Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman