Ombudsman orders council to pay more than £500 to resident

The Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman upheld a complaint from the resident after no action was taken to deal with a tree under High Hedge legislation.

The summary of the ombudsman’s decision is: “Two years after making an application under the High Hedge Legislation no action has been taken due to delays and faults by the Council.

“A lack of training, knowledge, expert advice and unresolved issues between departments were the cause of the faults.

“A remedy to resolve the injustice caused to Mr X [the resident] is proposed.”

The ‘saga’ began in September 2020, when the resident contacted the council about trees encroaching on his property.

The authority contacted the resident’s neighbour, and an officer inspected the hedge, before it engaged a tree specialist firm to assess works needed and if the hedge fell within the legal definition of a high hedge.

This is a hedge that is a ‘barrier to light or access’ formed by a line of two or more evergreen or semi-evergreen trees or shrubs that is taller than two metres.

A technical assessment was not provided despite the council’s request, so it did not pay the firm a fee.

A remedial notice was served to the neighbour, which was then appealed in March 2021.

Nothing happened until the planning inspectorate informed the council that the notice was ‘fatally flawed’ in November, recommending it was withdrawn and reissued.

An officer measured the hedge in January 2022, before another remedial notice was issued in February, which was also appealed, despite some confusion.

The planning inspector visited the site in July 2022 and in October advised that the second notice be withdrawn as the inspector found that the hedge did not constitute a high hedge.

A complaint was then made to the council by the resident as he had ‘incurred considerable expenses and been put to a lot of time and trouble’ and nothing had happened in 18 months.

The council responded in November and said that there was a ‘lack of technical skills’ amongst its officers, with an ‘absence of technical support from the in-house arboriculturists’.

It also accepted the delays in the process, saying it would refund the fee paid by the resident as well as exploring the possibility of some compensation.

The resident then chose to make a formal complaint to the ombudsman and took further advice from a tree specialist in February 2023.

The ombudsman found that the officer allocated to the case had ‘no training or technical knowledge’ in high hedge legislation, with no expert advice available.

After the first ‘fatally flawed’ remedial notice, the same ‘untrained officer’ was tasked with the second one.

The ombudsman found that this was fault on the part of the council, and that any issues would have been seen by someone with knowledge and expertise.

The council acknowledged that delays and internal issues that led to the faults, saying that when the council was formed in 2019, it failed to specify which service area would be responsible for high hedges.

It added that this area of expertise was ‘not fully considered and some legacy arrangements caused confusion and have remained ever since’. Work to improve this is underway.

The council must apologise to the resident and refund the fee for the high hedge application.

It must also make a ‘symbolic’ payment of £300 to ‘recognise Mr X’s uncertainty and raised expectations’ and pay him £250 to ‘recognise his time and trouble in pursuing this matter’.

The decision added: “At a senior level, the Council should draw together the learning from the faults identified in this case and produce an action plan to ensure that proper resources and expertise are in place to ensure similar issues do not arise in the future.”

The authority should provide evidence it has complied with these actions.