Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about the Council’s decision that an overgrown tree is not causing a statutory nuisance. There is not enough evidence of fault by the Council to warrant our involvement.

The complaint

1. Mr X complains about how the Council responded to his reports of an overgrown tree. The Council said the debris falling from the tree into Mr X’s garden was not causing a statutory nuisance.
2. Mr X also complains the Council did not properly respond to his complaint.
3. Mr X says the matter has caused distress and a loss of enjoyment of his property.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

4. 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), section 34(B))
5. 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)
6. We will not usually investigate complaint handling if we are not investigating the rest of the complaint. This is because there is not usually enough injustice to justify us doing so. We collect information about particularly poor complaint handling practice and report this back to organisations. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), section 34B(8))

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How I considered this complaint

7. I considered information provided by the complainant.
8. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

9. The Council considered Mr X’s reports about a neighbour’s tree, which was overgrown and caused debris to fall into his garden.
10. It said the matter did not amount to a statutory nuisance and advised Mr X this is a civil matter.
11. The available evidence suggests we would not find fault in the Council’s decision-making here. Nor would we find fault in the Council telling Mr X the matter is a civil issue.
12. The Ombudsman is 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. If we consider it followed those processes correctly, we cannot question whether the decision was right or wrong, regardless of whether someone disagrees with the decision the organisation made.
13. For this reason, we will not investigate this complaint.

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Final decision

14. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because there is not enough evidence of fault by the Council to warrant our involvement.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman