Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s lack of investigation into a report of potential damage to protected trees. There is insufficient evidence of fault to justify an investigation.

The complaint

1. The complainant, who I shall call Mr B, complains the Council failed to properly investigate his report about potential damage to trees on a site next to his home.
2. He also complains the Council failed to tell him about the complaint procedure.
3. Mr B says the Council humiliated him by failing to take his complaint seriously. And has failed to provide taxpayers with value for money.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

4. 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
• any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement

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

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How I considered this complaint

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

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My assessment

7. Mr B reported concerns about failures to protect trees on a development site next to his home.
8. The Council confirms it has inspected the site several times. It is satisfied there is no damage to any protected tree on the site. It is also satisfied with the protection in place.
9. I am satisfied the Council properly considered Mr X’s concerns. It inspected the site following receipt of Mr B’s report and found no evidence of damage to any protection trees. As there is no fault in the process the Council followed, I cannot criticise the merits of its decision.
10. The Council has apologised for failing to tell Mr B about its complaint procedure. I do not propose to investigate this issue further. It is not a good use of public resources to investigate complaints about complaint procedures, if we are unable to deal with the substantive issue. Also, I do not consider Mr B has suffered a significant personal injustice on this point alone which justifies an investigation.

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Final decision

11. We will not investigate Mr B’s complaint because we have seen no evidence of fault in the way the Council considered his concerns about the trees. Also, he has not suffered a significant personal injustice because of its failure to tell him about the complaint procedure.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman