The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s actions in relation to nesting gulls. This is because there is not enough evidence of fault to justify an investigation. We will also not investigate part of the complaint as it is late and there in no good reason to consider it now.
The complaint
The complainant, Ms X, says the Council did not take timely action when dealing with gulls nesting on a neighbouring roof. She says the gulls caused her significant distress and caused damage to her property.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
We investigate 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 or continue an investigation if we decide there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B)) 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 the complainant and the Council.
I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
Ms X says gulls have nested on her neighbour’s roof in 2023 and 2024. The birds returned to nest again in 2025 and chicks fell from the nest and stayed on Ms X’s roof. Ms X says the gulls caused foul odours and she was subjected to aggressive attacks by the birds. She says this made her garden and outdoor space unusable and she was unable to open windows. She says in 2024, gulls caused damage to a skylight to the value of £3,000 and roof cleaning and nest removal cost her a further £1,000.
In 2025, after Ms X reported the nuisance chicks, the Council agreed to remove the chick from the roof. However, the chick had already flown from the nest.
The Council operates under an organisational licence, issued by Natural England, to remove nesting gulls, a protected species. There are strict criteria the Council must adhere to when deciding whether or not to take action to intervene with nesting gulls.
The Council acted proportionately and within the limits of its licence to reports of nesting gulls in 2025. There is not enough evidence the Council is at fault and therefore it does not warrant an investigation by the Ombudsman.
Ms X says she complained to the Council about the gulls in 2023 and again in 2024. She says her complaints were ignored. This part of the complaint is late and we have seen no reason why Ms X could not have complained to us sooner. There are therefore no good reasons for us to investigate the matter now.
Ms X is dissatisfied about how the Council handled her complaint. It is not a good use of public resources to investigate complaints about complaint procedures, if we are unable to deal with the substantive issue. That is the case here.
Final decision
We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint because there is not enough evidence of fault and part of the complaint is late.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman