Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about noise. This is because we could not add to any previous investigation the Council has done and our investigation would not lead to a different outcome.

The complaint

1. Mr Y complains the Council delayed investigating his complaint about noise from his neighbours. He also complains the Council failed to properly deal with his complaint initially, causing further delays.
2. Mr Y says he had to buy a type of phone which included noise recording equipment. He also says he has been caused frustration and distress at the continuation of the problem and the Council’s poor response and has had to take time to complain on several occasions.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. 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 or may decide not to continue with an investigation if we decide:

• we could not add to any previous investigation by the organisation, or
• further investigation would not lead to a different outcome.

(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6))

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How I considered this complaint

4. I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
5. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

6. Mr Y complained to the Council about the noise coming from his neighbour’s property in April 2020. He chased the Council in May 2020 and complained about the lack of response. Mr Y continued to chase the Council for several months before receiving a response.
7. In September, the Council said it had considered Mr Y’s complaints as a further report of noise and had been working with him, but so far had a lack of evidence for a statutory nuisance. It apologised however for the delay in handling Mr Y’s complaint about its service, as it had not recognised it as needing referral to its corporate complaints team. It said it had spoken to staff involved in the matter and was as present restructuring the service area to improve its services. It also said it was providing training to selected staff to prevent the issue from reoccurring.
8. However, Mr Y was not satisfied with the response and asked the Council to reconsider its response in February 2021. The Council admitted in its late response in September 2021, that this complaint was not properly handled. Consequently, Mr Y had to chase the Council for a further response several time before it responded fully in September 2021.
9. The Council’s complaint response apologised for the poor handling of Mr Y’s complaint. It said there was insufficient evidence to find a statutory nuisance at that stage and the recording Mr Y had provided were not sufficient to continue investigating the complaint. It admitted fault for its staff being rude and dismissive in its handle of Mr Y’s noise complaint, its poor handling of his complaint about the Council, including not keeping records of correspondence and delay in dealing with the issues raised. It said it had since restructured the service and was in the process of providing training to staff to prevent the issue from happening again. It also offered to pay Mr Y £300 to recognise the emotional impact on him and the cost of the phone he had bought to record the noise. Mr Y then asked us to investigate.

Analysis

10. The Council has recognised and admitted fault in its handling of Mr Y’s noise issue and complaint about the Council’s service. It has acted to try to correct and prevent the issue from recurring by speaking to involved staff, providing training and through its restructuring of the relevant department within the Council. It has also recognised the impact on Mr Y both emotionally and the time he took to raise the issues. It has offered £300 to acknowledge this and Mr Y’s purchase of a phone to record the problem and provide evidence to the Council about the issue.
11. In taking this action, the Council has recognised the problem and the impact on Mr Y. It has also acted to try to prevent the issue in future. It has also recognised the impact on Mr Y personally. Consequently, we would consider this a proportionate remedy to Mr Y’s complaint, and we could not add to any previous investigation carried out by the Council and out investigation would not lead to a different outcome. We will therefore not investigate this complaint.

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Final decision

12. We will not investigate Mr Y’s complaint because we could not add to any previous investigation the Council has done and our investigation would not lead to a different outcome.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman