Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about failures in the way the Council dealt with the complainant’s high hedge application. The Council has apologised and is considering a fresh application. We consider further investigation is unlikely to lead to a different outcome. Also, we cannot achieve the outcome the complainant is seeking.

The complaint

1. The complainant, I shall call Mrs X, says the Council did not follow the correct process when it considered their neighbour’s complaint about their high hedge.
2. She wants the Council to engage an independent person to consider the complaint.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. The Ombudsman investigates 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 may decide not to continue with an investigation if we decide:

• further investigation would not lead to a different outcome, or
• we cannot achieve the outcome someone wants.

(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6))

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How I considered this complaint

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

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My assessment

Relevant law and guidance

6. The law giving councils powers to deal with complaints about high hedges is found in Part 8 of the Anti-Social Behaviour Act 2003 and associated regulations and guidance.
7. These say a person can ask a council to issue a remedial notice requiring a hedge owner to cut and maintain a hedge below a maximum height if the hedge:
• consists of two or more trees or shrubs in a line
• consists or is mostly of evergreen or semi-evergreen species.
• is over 2 metres in height; and
• as a result of its height is acting as a barrier to light such that a person's reasonable enjoyment of their property is being adversely affected;
8. A council may, if it considers the circumstances justify it, issue a remedial notice requiring the owner of the hedge to remedy the situation.

Assessment

9. Mrs X says the Council’s failure to follow the correct process when dealing with her neighbour’s complaint led it to threaten to issue a remedial notice against her.
10. The neighbour has put in a new complaint. Mrs X does not want anyone employed by the Council or any other local authority to consider the new complaint. She wants the Council to engage who she considers to be a suitable person such as a retired planning inspector to deal with it.
11. The Council accepts it should not have processed the original complaint as the neighbours had not provided enough evidence that they had exhausted attempts to resolve the matter through mediation. It apologised and closed the complaint without issuing any decision.
12. The neighbours have put in a new complaint. The Council says it is in communication with both Mrs X and her neighbour about arranging a site inspection that will now likely be in mid-February.

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Final decision

13. We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint because the Council apologised for errors in dealing with her neighbours’ original complaint and closed the case without a decision. It is unlikely that further investigation will lead to a different outcome.
14. Also, we cannot require the Council to engage additional staff or a private contractor to consider the neighbours new complaint. Therefore, we cannot achieve the outcome Mrs X is seeking.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman