Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s handling of the complainant’s reports of noise nuisance by a neighbour. We could not achieve a worthwhile or different outcome for the complainant.

The complaint

1. Mr X complains about the Council’s handling of his reports of noise nuisance by a neighbour.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. We can investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’, which we call ‘fault’. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse impact on the person making the complaint, which we call ‘injustice’. We provide a free service, but must use public money carefully. So, we do not start an investigation if we decide:

• there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating, or
• we could not add to any previous investigation by the organisation, or
• further investigation would not lead to a different outcome, or
• there is no worthwhile outcome achievable by our investigation, or
• we are satisfied with the action the Council has already taken.

(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6) & (7), as amended, section 34(B))

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How I considered this complaint

3. I considered:
• information provided by Mr X and the Council, which included some of their complaint correspondence.
• information on the Council’s website about how it responds to reports of noise nuisance.
• the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

4. The Council has already apologised for misfiling the diary sheets Mr X submitted in mid-2023. I consider the apology was a satisfactory way to address this part of the complaint, so we will not pursue it further.
5. Furthermore, it is not the Ombudsman’s role to decide whether a statutory noise nuisance is occurring; that is a matter for the Council. It is has visited Mr X’s property, sent an advisory letter to the neighbour, and encouraged Mr X to call its noise witnessing service so that officers may assess the noise for themselves. The Ombudsman could not achieve anything further for Mr X, so we will not investigate this part of the complaint either.

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Final decision

6. We will not investigate ’s complaint because it would not lead to a worthwhile or different outcome for Mr X.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman