Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s refusal to remove a tree which caused the complaint to suffer a fall. This is because we are unlikely to add to the Council’s investigation or achieve the outcome requested.

The complaint

1. Mrs X complains about the Council’s failure to remove a tree that caused her to suffer a fall.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. We investigate 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 continue an investigation if we decide:

• we could not add to any previous investigation by the organisation, or
• we cannot achieve the outcome someone wants

(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))

3. The law says we cannot normally investigate a complaint when someone could take the matter to court. However, we may decide to investigate if we consider it would be unreasonable to expect the person to go to court. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(6)(c), as amended)
4. We cannot investigate complaints about the provision or management of social housing by a council acting as a registered social housing provider. (Local Government Act 1974, paragraph 5A schedule 5, as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

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

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My assessment

7. Mrs X is a tenant of the Council. She complains she suffered a fall due to tree roots uplifting paving in her garden. She would like the Council to remove the tree.
8. The Council has found fault when its Tree Service did not respond to Mrs X’s request first made in 2023. It has offered £450 compensation for the delay and Mrs X’s time and trouble taken in complaining. Overall, it said it would not remove the tree as that would breach its tree policy where it aims to engineer solutions to tree issues rather than cut down the whole tree.
9. The Council has also provided information on how Mrs X can make a personal injury claim.
10. And it has arranged for its housing repair service to inspect the paving with a view to levelling the paving.
11. We will not investigate as we could not add to the Council’s investigation nor achieve the outcome requested. The Council has provided a reasonable remedy for its delays, and we have no power to compel the Council to remove the tree.
12. We will not investigate the fall as it is reasonable to expect Mrs X to go to court with her personal injury claim. Nor can we investigate the Council’s repairs to the paving as that falls under the Council’s repairs provided as part of its functions as a registered provider of social housing.

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Final decision

13. We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint because we are unlikely to add to the Council’s investigation or achieve the outcome requested.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman