Summary: We will not investigate Mr B’s complaint about excessive leaf fall from Council owned trees outside his home. This is because there is not enough evidence of fault by the Council.

The complaint

1. The complainant, who I will refer to as Mr B, complains there are too many trees on the grassed area outside his home and the Council has made this worse by planting even more trees. Mr B says he has to collect and deal with a considerable amount of organic material which falls from the trees each year. Mr B would like the Council to: remove the tree saplings it has planted since 2020; stop planting any more trees; and, maintain the existing trees more regularly.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. 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 an investigation if we decide there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6))

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How I considered this complaint

3. I considered information provided by Mr B including the Council’s final response to his complaint. I have also considered a Council document: Tree Management – A guide for residents, which is available on the Council website.
4. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

5. The Council wrote a detailed response to Mr B’s complaint. The Council said:
• Most of the trees close to Mr B’s home have been there for a long time and are inspected by the Council in line with the Council’s programme of maintenance.
• Mr B has complained about a new plum tree planted outside his neighbour’s home. This location was chosen by an experienced and fully qualified tree officer who has the knowledge and experience to choose an appropriate site. At the moment, the Council will not remove this tree.
• No additional trees are scheduled to be planted in this area in the 2022/23 planting season.
• The Council will try to minimise the amount of new or replacement planting close to Mr B’s home in future.
• An Alder tree which was recently removed will not be replaced. But, there is no justification for removing other trees Mr B asked to be removed.
• A Council officer visited the area in early November 2022 and took photographs. The officer considered the amount of fallen leaves was not worse than other areas.
6. We will not investigate Mr B’s complaint. This is because there is not enough evidence of fault to justify an investigation.
7. Like most local authorities, the Council recognises the many benefits of trees and generally will not prune or remove healthy trees solely because of resident concerns about leaf fall.
8. The Council has responded to Mr B’s concerns and has visited the area. The Council has explained its decisions in response to Mr B’s concerns about both existing trees and recently planted trees. The Council has also taken account of Mr B’s comments about excessive leaf fall and says it will try to minimise the amount of planting near his home in future.
9. An investigation is unlikely to find the Council was at fault for the way it has responded to Mr B's concerns about this issue.

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Final decision

10. We will not investigate Mr B’s complaint because there is not enough evidence of fault to justify an investigation.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman