'I will not investigate' - Council avoids probe over failure to tell resident before pruning overgrown hedge
A Tyneside council has avoided a watchdog probe over failing to inform a resident it intended to prune his overgrown hedge.
The Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman (LGSC0) has declined to take any further action on the man’s complaint that North Tyneside Council cut back greenery that belonged to him without sufficient notice.
The LGSCO, in its published decision, found it would not be able to add anything further to the council’s own investigation. The LGSCO also stated that in responding to the man’s complaint the council had apologised to Mr X, as he is referred to in the finding, for the distress caused and reminded staff of the correct processes in such matters.
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The council also acknowledged that that it should have written to Mr X to ask him to prune the hedge and should not have carried out the work itself.
The report adds: “I will not investigate Mr X’s complaint. The Council upheld his complaint, apologised, and has taken steps to ensure the same error doesn’t reoccur.
“Mr X says he is at greater risk of vandalism and anti-social behaviour due to the Council’s actions. But this is speculative, and I note that Mr X says he suffered from anti-social behaviour prior to the pruning of the hedge.”
Samantha Dand, director of environment at North Tyneside Council, said: “In this case, the resident should have been contacted prior to any works being carried out and we sincerely apologise for any upset this has caused. We have reminded all staff of the correct procedure so this doesn’t happen again.”