Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s handling of planning and noise control issues relating to public events which take place at a venue in Mr X’s locale. This is because past events fall outside our jurisdiction due to the passage of time and we are unlikely to find evidence of fault by the Council sufficient to warrant an investigation in relation to more recent events.

The complaint

1. Mr X complains the Council failed to properly consider noise nuisance implications when it granted planning permission for two applications related to an events venue in his locale and that it has failed to properly monitor noise coming from events held at the venue.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
3. We cannot investigate late complaints unless we decide there are good reasons. Late complaints are when someone takes more than 12 months to complain to us about something a council has done. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26B and 34D, as amended)
4. We 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. We do not start or continue an investigation if we decide:

• there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating, or
• any fault has not caused injustice to the person who complained, or
• any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement, or
• we could not add to any previous investigation by the organisation, or
• further investigation would not lead to a different outcome, or
• we cannot achieve the outcome someone wants. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))

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How I considered this complaint

5. I considered information provided by the complainant, including the Council’s response to the complaint.
6. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

7. Mr X complains about the Council’s failure to properly consider noise implications when it determined two planning applications from 2009 and 2021 in relation to an events venue in his locale. The time restriction highlighted at paragraph 3 applies to this matter. As we would reasonably have expected him to have complained to us sooner, this matter falls outside our jurisdiction and will not be investigated.
8. This restriction also applies to events from 2022 when the Council investigated Mr X’s reports of noise nuisance and carried out noise monitoring at his property. Moreover, having captured noise data at Mr X’s property during worst case climatic conditions for noise travel, the Council concluded that it did not indicate that there had been an adverse noise impact during the festival held at the venue. This is a decision the Council is entitled to make, and its merits are not open to review by the Ombudsman.
9. The Council addressed the recent complaint Mr X made at the beginning of this year about these matters and explained its position with regard to planning and noise monitoring at the venue. It pointed out that just because music may be audible from an event does not indicate that it is at a level to cause unreasonable disturbance. It also noted that it had not received any complaints in 2023 about the venue.
10. We do not investigate every complaint we receive, and we will not investigate late complaints when there are insufficient grounds to warrant doing so. While I note Mr X has referred to ill health and that it took him a long time to go through the Council’s processes, his FOI requests and contact with the Information Commissioner, we would reasonably have expected him to have complained to us sooner and little could be achieved now in investigating past events.
11. The Council has told Mr X that its monitoring of noise from events at the venue will be appropriate, proportionate and reasonable so as to make best use of limited resources. This may be less than Mr X would like but the number of complaints received about noise nuisance will be relevant to the level of monitoring undertaken. If Mr X, or other residents who live closer to the site, experience noise nuisance from any future events, it is open to them to report this to the Council which will then decide on the appropriate action to take.

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Final decision

12. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because past events fall outside our jurisdiction due to the passage of time and we are unlikely to find evidence of fault by the Council sufficient to warrant an investigation in relation to more recent events.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman