The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about diseased trees too close to the complainant’s home blocking light. This is because we are unlikely to find evidence of fault in the Council’s responses.
The complaint
Miss X complains about allegedly diseased trees that are too close to her home blocking light, producing pollen and having roots that pose a trip hazard. She says the lack of light especially is adversely affecting her mental health.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
We investigate complaints of injustice caused by ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. I have used the word fault to refer to these. We consider whether there was fault in the way an organisation made its decision. If there was no fault in the decision making, we cannot question the outcome. (Local Government Act 1974, section 34(3), as amended)
How I considered this complaint
I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council’s responses to Miss X. I also considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
The Council has answered Miss X’s complaints. It says its specialist tree officers have inspected the trees complained about. However, they disagree with Miss X’s views and consider the trees to be in a good condition. The Council says there are no grounds to remove the trees but will monitor the situation. In these circumstances we will not investigate as we are unlikely to find fault with the Council’s responses given it has inspected the trees but reached a decision Miss X disagrees with.
Final decision
We will not investigate Miss X’s complaint because we are unlikely to find fault in the Council’s response.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman