Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about how the Council dealt with Mr X’s complaints about his neighbour’s hedge. This is because he has already exercised his right of appeal to the Planning Inspector. We will also not investigate Mr X’s complaints about delays in the Council’s complaints process as any injustice to Mr X is not significant enough to justify our involvement.

The complaint

1. Mr X complains the Council has failed to deal with his complaints about his neighbours hedge for the past 10 years. Mr X says the Council has failed to respond to his most recent complaints.
2. Mr X says the Council has reimbursed him for an earlier application to reduce the height of the hedge but has failed to acknowledge the distress it has caused him over the past 10 years.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
4. We cannot investigate a complaint if someone has appealed to a government minister. The Planning Inspector acts on behalf of a government minister. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(6)(b), as amended)
5. 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 any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6))

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How I considered this complaint

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

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My assessment

8. Mr X has appealed the Council’s decision to take no action regarding his neighbour’s hedge in March 2021. Therefore we cannot investigate this complaint.
9. Although Mr X has withdrawn his appeal we cannot investigate as the law does not allow us to investigate complaints where someone has started the appeal process.
10. Mr X also complains about delays in the Council responding to his complaints. We will not investigate complaints about delays in the complaint process where we are not able to investigate the matters complained of. This is because any injustice to Mr X is not significant enough to justify our involvement.

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Final decision

11. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because he has already exercised his right of appeal to the Planning Inspector. We will also not investigate his complaints about delay in the complaints process as any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman