Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about how the Council has dealt with the complainant’s reports of noise nuisance. This is because there is insufficient evidence of fault by the Council.

The complaint

1. The complainant, who I will call Ms X, complains that the Council failed to properly investigate her reports of noise nuisance by a neighbour.

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The Ombudsman’s role and power

2. We investigate complaints of injustice caused by ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. I have used the word fault to refer to these. We consider whether there was fault in the way an organisation made its decision. If there was no fault in how the organisation made its decision, we cannot question the outcome. (Local Government Act 1974, section 34(3), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

3. I considered information provided by the complainant.
4. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

5. Ms X complained to the Council about noise nuisance from her neighbours. The Council wrote to both Ms X and the neighbour, carried out site visits and installed sound monitoring equipment in Ms X’s.
6. Having considered the evidence gathered, and additional evidence provided by Ms X, the Council concluded that there were no evidence of a statutory nuisance taking place and so it had no legal basis to take enforcement action.
7. I understand Ms X is disappointed with the Council’s decision, but the Ombudsman is not an appeal body. We cannot question decisions taken by councils if they have followed the right steps and considered the relevant evidence and information. The Council satisfied itself it was able to make a decision on Ms X’s complaint following an investigation and evidence from noise recording equipment. There is no evidence to suggest fault affected its decision.

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Final decision

8. We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint because there is insufficient evidence of fault.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman