Tameside Metropolitan Borough Council (25 001 984)
Category : Environment and regulation > Trees
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 09 Jul 2025
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s decision not to remove a tree outside her home. This is because it is unlikely we would find fault in the Council’s actions.
The complaint
- Mrs X complains the Council refuses to move a tree outside her home which she say blocks access to her car port.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
- We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’, which we call ‘fault’. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse effect 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 the tests set out in our Assessment Code are not met. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)
How I considered this complaint
- I considered information provided by Mrs X and the Council.
- I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
- Mrs X complains a Council owned tree outside her house blocks access to her car port.
- The Council says an officer visited the site. They concluded the tree is healthy and does not obstruct her property. It confirmed it will only remove street trees when they are deemed dangerous by a qualified inspector or are causing structural damage to nearby properties. The tree outside her home is not dangerous and is not causing structural damage.
- We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint because it is unlikely we would find fault in the Council’s actions. It is not for the Ombudsman to decide whether the tree should be removed. That is a matter for the professional judgement of the Council’s arboriculture officers. The question for us is whether the Council made the decision in the right way, not the merits of the decision itself.
- Mrs X disagrees with that decision, but without evidence of fault in the way it was made, we cannot criticise the Council’s actions.
Final decision
- We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint because we have not seen enough evidence of fault in the way the Council decided not to fell the tree outside her home.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman