The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate Mr B’s complaint that the Council delayed removing a fallen tree. This is because Mr B has not suffered a significant injustice which would justify an investigation.
The complaint
The complainant, who I will refer to as Mr B, complains that the Council took too long to remove a fallen tree close to his home. Mr B says he contacted the Council about this in December 2021. Mr B says the Council removed the fallen tree but left the tree stump which was not removed until August 2022. Mr B says he had to chase the Council about this and there were long periods with no communication.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
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 an investigation if we decide: any fault has not caused injustice to the person who complained, or any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement.
(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6))
How I considered this complaint
I considered information provided by Mr B.
I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
Our role is to consider complaints where the person bringing the complaint has suffered significant personal injustice as a direct result of the actions or inactions of the organisation. This means we will normally only investigate a complaint where the complainant has suffered serious loss, harm, or distress as a direct result of faults or failures. We will not normally investigate a complaint where the alleged loss or injustice is not a serious or significant matter.
An investigation of Mr B’s complaint is not justified. This is because the information does not suggest Mr B has suffered a significant injustice because of the alleged delay by the Council removing the tree stump.
Mr B may have been put to some time and trouble contacting the Council about this matter. But, this does not justify an investigation or the pursuit of a remedy by the Ombudsman.
Final decision
We will not investigate Mr B’s complaint because he has not suffered a significant injustice which would justify an investigation by the Ombudsman.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman