Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s response to a request for works to a highway tree. There is insufficient evidence of fault on the Council’s part to warrant investigation.

The complaint

1. The complainant, Mr X, complains that the Council has failed to respond reasonably to his request that it remove branches from a highway tree.

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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 there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))

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How I considered this complaint

3. I considered information provided by the complainant.
4. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

5. Mr X’s complaint concerns the Council’s management of a highway tree close to his property. He says a branch fell from the tree onto his driveway and he is concerned that larger overhanging branches may also do so, potentially causing damage. He has asked the Council to remove the branches. He complains that it has declined to do so and has not responded to his concerns appropriately.
6. The Ombudsman will not investigate this complaint. It is not for us to take a view on whether the requested work is appropriate. That is a matter for the professional judgement of the Council. The question for the Ombudsman is whether there is evidence of fault in the way the Council made its decision not to carry out the work.
7. The correspondence Mr X has provided shows that the Council’s contractors have inspected the tree and identified no grounds to justify works outside the Council’s maintenance schedule. There is no evidence that the Council was at fault in how it reached its decision not to prune the tree. That being the case, we cannot intervene to criticise the decision or substitute an alternative view.

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Final decision

8. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because there is insufficient evidence of fault on the Council’s part.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman