Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s investigation of Miss X’s complaint about noise from neighbouring premises. There is insufficient evidence of fault which would warrant an investigation.

The complaint

1. Miss X complained about the Council’s investigation of her complaints about a nearby boxing club. She says she has been subjected to noise nuisance for two years and the Council’s investigations in both years have been closed without identifying a statutory nuisance.

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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 consider whether there was fault in the way an organisation made its decision. If there was no fault in the decision making, 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 and the Council.
4. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

5. Miss X says she has suffered nuisance from a nearby boxing club for the past two summers when using her garden. She says that swearing, shouting and slapping can be heard from the open windows of the club when it is in use. In 2021 she made a complaint about the nuisance to the Council. She provided logs of the occasions but the case was closed on insufficient evidence of a statutory nuisance.
6. In the summer of 2022 she made a further complaint. The Council sent officers to observe the noise and sound recording equipment was set up in Miss X’s home. She says the problem was noise experienced in her garden but the equipment used by councils is unsuitable for outdoors and issued to monitor noise affecting living conditions. The Council concluded that there was insufficient evidence of noise which would be an enforceable statutory nuisance coming from the premises.
7. When considering complaints, we may not question the merits of the decision the Council has made or offer any opinion on whether or not we agree with the judgment of the Councils’ officers or members when there is no fault. This means we will not intervene in disagreements about the merits of decisions. In this case the Council did not believe there was sufficient evidence of noise which would enable it to serve an abatement notice for statutory nuisance.

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Final decision

8. We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s investigation of Miss X’s complaint about noise from neighbouring premises. There is insufficient evidence of fault which would warrant an investigation.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman