Summary: We will not investigate this complaint that the Council refuses to consider Mr X’s ongoing complaints about noise nuisance from his neighbour. This is because we are unlikely to find enough evidence of fault by the Council to warrant an investigation.

The complaint

1. Mr X says he is hyper-sensitive to noise and vibrations. He has complained to the Council multiple times about noise from his neighbour but he says the Council refuses to act or to accept new complaints about the same matter.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. 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. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), 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.
4. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

5. We have previously considered complaints from Mr X about the Council’s failure to consider his specific sensitivity to noise when dealing with his complaints.
6. The Council has advised Mr X several times that by law, it cannot take his individual sensitivity to noise and vibration into account when deciding whether there is a statutory noise nuisance. The law requires the average person be considered and not Mr X’s individual circumstances. We found insufficient evidence of fault in the way the Council previously assessed whether there is a statutory noise nuisance. We will not consider these issues again.
7. Mr X also says the Council refuses to consider his new reports of noise. However, it has investigated multiple complaints previously, and Mr X has confirmed nothing has changed. There Is not enough evidence of fault in the Council’s decision not to re-investigate matters which it has previously considered and responded to.

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Final decision

8. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because we have not seen sufficient evidence of fault by the Council.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman