Summary: The Ombudsman will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s responses to complaints about anti-social behaviour. This is because I have seen no fault in the way the Council has reached its decisions.

The complaint

1. The complainant, who I shall refer to as Mr X, says, in summary, he is being subjected to noise and harassment by his neighbours. He complains about the Council failure to deal with his complaints properly and alleges it has discriminated against him on the grounds of race.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. We investigate complaints of injustice caused by maladministration and service failure. I have used the word fault to refer to these. We cannot question whether a council’s decision is right or wrong simply because the complainant disagrees with it. We must consider whether there was fault in the way the decision was reached. (Local Government Act 1974, section 34(3), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

3. I have considered the information provided by the complainant. I have also read the responses from the Council to Mr X and shared my draft decision.

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What I found

4. Councils must consider complaints made noise that could be ‘statutory nuisance’ (under the Environmental Protection Act 1990). For the noise to count as statutory nuisance the noise must be judged to ‘unreasonably and substantially interfere with the use or enjoyment of a home or other premises’ or ‘injure health or be likely to injure health’.
5. Councils also have a duty under the Crime and Disorder Act 1998 (and successive legislation) to work together with the Police to prevent and reduce crime and disorder in the area.
6. The Council has responded to Mr X in some detail to explain it has investigated his concerns. It has spoken to Council officers. It has also contacted the Police and occupants plus landlord of the flat complained about.
7. It also refers to a multi-agency meeting held on 23 April with Mr X, the Police and the Council to discuss his complaints.
8. Overall, the Council says it has found no evidence to corroborate Mr X’s allegations of noise nuisance, harassment or discrimination by staff.
9. In order to try and obtain evidence, the Council says it contacted Mr X on 30 April, 2/10/14 and also 15 May to install noise monitoring equipment. It says Mr X failed to respond.
10. My final decision is the Ombudsman will not investigate. This is because I have seen information showing the Council has considered Mr X’s concerns and responded appropriately. I appreciate that Mr X does not agree but, since the Council has considered the matter properly, the Ombudsman has no grounds to intervene.

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Final decision

11. The Ombudsman will not investigate as there is no fault in the way the Council has reached its decisions.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman