Summary: We will not exercise discretion to investigate this complaint about the Council’s investigation of a complaint about construction noise. This complaint was received outside the normal 12-month period for investigating complaints. There is no evidence to suggest that Mrs X could not have complained to us sooner.

The complaint

1. Mrs X complained about the Council’s failure to respond to her complaints about construction noise in 2024. She says she did not get a response until she made a formal complaint to the Council a year later. By this time the work was largely completed. She says she had to endure noise and dust for months when she believed the Council should have been taking action to control it.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. 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)

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How I considered this complaint

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

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My assessment

5. Mrs X says the Council failed to take action or communicate with her over noise from a nearby housing construction site, she says she left messages and follow-up complaints but did not receive any responses. She says her home suffered from drilling noise and dust in her garden, on washing and on her car. This was made worse when protective barriers were removed.
6. Mrs X made a formal complaint to the Council in August 2025 after a year of poor responses. By this time the works were completed and the nuisance could not be assessed. She did not complain to us until November 2025.
7. We will not investigate this complaint which was received outside the normal 12-month period and is late. There is no evidence to suggest that Mrs X could not have complained to us sooner. The more time passes between the events and a complaint, the more unlikely it is we can investigate them effectively, gather reliable evidence and reach a sound decision. In older cases we also may not be able to achieve a meaningful remedy because too many circumstances have changed.
8. The time for receiving complaints is from when someone became aware of the matter they wished to complain about, not when they complained to the Council or it issued its final response. We would expect someone to complain to us within a year, even if they were dissatisfied with the time the complaints procedure was taking.

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Final decision

9. We will not exercise discretion to investigate this complaint about the Council’s investigation of a complaint about construction noise. This complaint was received outside the normal 12-month period for investigating complaints. There is no evidence to suggest that Mrs X could not have complained to us sooner.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman