Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s decision not to prune trees. There is not enough evidence of fault in the Council’s decision-making process to warrant an investigation.

The complaint

1. Ms X complains the Council’s trees are overhanging her property, blocking light and causing saplings. She says she cannot cut them back herself and believes the Council should do so.

The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. We investigate complaints of injustice caused by ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. I have used the word fault to refer to these. We consider whether there was fault in the way an organisation made its decision. If there was no fault in how the organisation made its decision, we cannot question the outcome. (Local Government Act 1974, section 34(3), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

3. I considered information provided by Ms X and the Council
4. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

5. Ms X says the Council’s trees overhanging her property are blocking light, shedding leaves and causing saplings to take root in her garden, and she asked the Council to prune the trees or pay for their removal.
6. In response to Ms X’s concerns about the trees, the Council has said it they are in good condition and there is no reason to prune them. They considered her concerns under the Council’s adopted tree policy, which says:
• a tree will not be pruned because of debris drop related to the fall of leaves or sap.
• the Council does not prune trees which are blocking light.
• the council will not act if a tree is overhanging a property unless there are extenuating circumstances.
7. The Council concluded there were no grounds to prune the trees under its policy and approach to tree maintenance.  It said Ms X can carry out tree work in her own garden and a tree surgeon can act on her behalf to do this.
8. The Council told us it inspected the trees in February 2025 and found them to be in good health. This was after the Council finished dealing with Ms X’s complaint.
9. We are not an appeal body. This means we do not take a second look at a decision to decide if it was wrong. Instead, we look at the processes an organisation followed to make its decision. The Council’s process in deciding not to prune the tree involved assessing the situation and applying its policy. There is not enough evidence of fault in how the Council made its decision to warrant an investigation. We realise Ms X disagrees with the decision, but this itself is not evidence of fault.

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Final decision

10. We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint because there is not enough evidence of fault to warrant an investigation.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman