Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s failure to deal with a complaint about a failure to update public planning records for work to a tree in a conservation area. We do not consider the complainant has suffered a significant personal injustice which warrants an investigation.

The complaint

1. Mr X complains the Council has failed to deal with his complaint about its failure to update its planning records for work to a tree in a conservation area.

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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 any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement.

(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 Mr X and the Council.
4. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

5. In response to my enquiries the Council confirms it has open complaints from Mr X including:
• A complaint that an application to carry out work on a tree in a conservation shows on the Council’s website as pending for more than a year. The tree has since been cut back without permission; and
• A complaint that Mr X has not received a response to the above complaint.
6. The Council confirms Mr X’s complaints are at stage one of its complaint procedure. It also advised it had a high volume of complaints which it was unable to progress due to technical issues. It confirms many have now been reassigned and it has employed external resources to deal with them.
7. The Council has assured the Ombudsman that it will be undertaking a review of all of Mr X’s complaints.
8. I understand Mr X has found the Council’s failure to respond to his complain frustrating. However the Council has an open enforcement case concerning the tree which it will progress. We do not consider a failure in the complaint handling process alone causes enough personal injustice to warrant our involvement.

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Final decision

9. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about how the Council dealt with Mr X’s complaint. We consider it is not a good use of public resources to investigate complaints about complaint handling when we are not looking at the substantive issue.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman