The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s failure to respond to Ms X’s complaint about matters dating back to 2017. This is because the complaint is a late complaint, and we will not exercise discretion to investigate it now.
The complaint
The complainant, who I refer to as Ms X, says the Council has failed to respond to a complaint she made in 2021 about a threat of legal action it made against her in 2017 in connection with her protest about the removal of street trees in the Council’s area. She says the Council should investigate her personal complaint now rather than wait for the matters she has raised to be addressed in its upcoming street tree inquiry.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
We cannot investigate late complaints unless we decide there are good reasons. Late complaints are when someone takes more than 12 months to complain to us about something a council has done. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26B and 34D, as amended)
How I considered this complaint
I considered information provided by Ms X and the Council.
I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
In 2017 Ms X was involved, with a number of others, in protesting against the felling of street trees by Council contractors.
As a result of her protest, the Council sent Ms X a letter which said it intended to seek an injunction against her in the High Court. It advised her to take legal advice and told her that if she wanted to avoid an injunction, she could provide a signed undertaking to the Council that she would stop her direct action. Ms X signed the undertaking.
Following the answer to a question she raised in Full Council at the beginning of 2021, Ms X made a formal complaint to the Council about the legal action taken against her in 2017 and how she had felt compelled to sign the undertaking because of Council threats. She told the Council that as an outcome to her complaint she wanted an apology and an independent inquiry into the management of the street trees dispute.
The Council has confirmed it will not be responding to Ms X’s personal complaint because it, along with a number of similar concerns raised by other residents, will likely be addressed via the Council’s planned street tree inquiry.
The restriction highlighted at paragraph 2 applies to Ms X’s complaint and we will not exercise discretion to investigate matters relating to events from 2017. There is no evidence to suggest Ms X could not have complained to us sooner. That Ms X asked a question of the Council in 2021 and received an answer which prompted her to make her complaint does not bring the complaint back within our jurisdiction and it remains a late complaint.
While there was some delay by the Council in making clear it will not be addressing Ms X’s complaint individually, this is not a matter we will pursue in isolation when we are not investigating the substantive issue.
Final decision
We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint because the complaint is a late complaint, and we will not exercise discretion to investigate it now.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman