Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about noise nuisance from entertainment venues in a town centre. There is insufficient evidence of fault which would warrant an investigation.

The complaint

1. Mrs X complained about the Council’s failure to take sufficient action against entertainment venues in a nearby town centre which she says play loud music on weekends into her early hours which disturbs her sleep. She wants the Council to put in place some kind of permanent monitoring or amend the licensing hours for music entertainment.

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

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My assessment

5. Mrs X says she is frequently disturbed by music from town centre entertainment venues even though she lives some hundreds of metres away from the locations. She complained to the Council and it sent officers to monitor the noise levels on weekends at the times when she had reported the disturbance.
6. The officers did identify noise on some occasions and the venues were visited with reminders of their obligations to licensing conditions and public nuisance. On other occasions little or insufficient noise was observed which would warrant abatement action. The Council offered Mrs X noise recording equipment but she did not wish to use it.
7. The Council concluded that there was insufficient evidence from Mrs X and no other corroborating complaints to identify the presence of a statutory nuisance. If the Council had considered the issue to be a statutory nuisance it would be required to serve an abatement notice. There is no duty to serve a notice if the Council decides there is no statutory nuisance, as in this case.
8. These notices carry a right of appeal to the magistrates court and the venue owner could appeal if they believe the notice was unreasonable or incorrectly served. This means the Council would have to have a case which could be reasonably defended at appeal and if there is not sufficient evidence it should not serve a notice.
9. When considering complaints, we may not question whether the decision the Council has made is right or wrong 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 a decision where there is no fault. I can see no evidence that the Council failed to investigate Mrs X’s complaint in accordance with the Environmental Protection Act 1990 requirements.

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Final decision

10. We will not investigate this complaint about noise nuisance from entertainment venues in a town centre. There is insufficient evidence of fault which would warrant an investigation.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman