Summary: The Ombudsman will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint about noise from the Council’s recycling site. This is because it is unlikely we would find fault by the Council. Nor should the Ombudsman investigate how the Council handled her complaint. This is because the injustice caused is not significant enough to justify our involvement.

The complaint

1. The complainant, whom I shall refer to as Mrs X, complains the Council’s recycling collections near her home is causing a statutory nuisance. She also complains about its delays in the handling of her complaint.
2. Mrs X says the noise is causing her a lack of sleep, stress and depression.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. In this statement, I have used the word ‘fault’ to refer to these. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse impact on the person making the complaint. I refer to this as ‘injustice’. We provide a free service, but must use public money carefully. We may decide not to start or continue with an investigation if we believe:

• it is unlikely we would find fault, or
• the injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement.

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

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How I considered this complaint

4. I have considered the information provided by Mrs X and the Council’s responses to her complaint. I also considered the information provided by the Council about how it investigated Mrs X’s noise complaint. I gave Mrs X the opportunity to comment on a draft of this decision.

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What I found

What happened

5. The Council relocated a public recycling site near to Mrs X’s home. She says the early morning noise from the Council’s bin collections causes a statutory nuisance. She says because of this she has lost sleep and developed anxiety and depression. Mrs X complained to the Council.
6. The Council asked its environmental health officer (EHO) to investigate Mrs X’s complaint. The EHO installed noise monitoring equipment in her home to assess the level of noise caused by the bin collections. Following the collection of the equipment the Council assessed the noise levels monitored. After two months, Mrs X did not receive the outcome of the assessment and contacted the Council.
7. The Council informed Mrs X the noise levels recorded were not enough to be considered a statutory nuisance. But the EHO made a recommendation to move the collection times to later in the day. Mrs X disagreed with the Council’s assessment but took no further action at this stage. Two months later, she contacted the Council again as the collection times had not changed and escalated her complaint. She also complained about the Council’s failure to respond to her request and delays in handling her complaint.
8. In response the Council told Mrs X it had considered moving the collection times to minimise any disruption to nearby residents. But it had decided not to do so as a later collection time would obstruct traffic flow in the busy road. The Council recognised the collections caused a short-term increase in noise, but not to the levels of a statutory nuisance. However, it informed Mrs X it would consider options to replace the recycling arrangement. The Council apologised to Mrs X for its complaints handing and said it would remind its staff to follow its complaints policy. Mrs X remains unhappy about the outcome of her complaint.
9. During our consideration of Mrs X’s complaint, the Council has consulted nearby residents about options for the recycling collections. It has confirmed a new temporary arrangement to minimise the disruption to residents.

Assessment

10. The Ombudsman will not investigate this complaint. The Council considered Mrs X’s concerns. It installed noise monitoring equipment in her home and assessed the level of noise caused by servicing its recycling site. I appreciate Mrs X does not agree with the Council’s decision that the noise is not a statutory nuisance. But further investigation by the Ombudsman is unlikely to find fault by the Council.
11. Also, the Council has put in place an arrangement to minimise the noise disruption from its recycling collections and apologised to Mrs X for its handling of her complaint. While I understand the Council’s handling of her complaint caused frustration for Mrs X, I do not see a significant enough injustice on this matter to justify our involvement.

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Final decision

12. I will not investigate this complaint. This is because it is unlikely we would find fault by the Council on the substantive matter and the injustice caused by the delay in the complaint handling is not significant enough to justify our involvement.

Investigator’s decision on behalf of the Ombudsman

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman