Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s investigation into Mr X’s noise nuisance complaint. This is because there is not enough evidence of fault.

The complaint

1. Mr X complains the Council has failed to investigate his complaint of noise nuisance and it handled his complaints poorly.

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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, or
• any fault has not caused injustice to the person who complained, or
• any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement.

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

3. 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

4. I considered information provided by Mr X and the Council.
5. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

6. The Council must take such steps as are reasonably practicable to investigate a complaint of noise nuisance.
7. At the end of October 2025 Mr X reported noise nuisance to the Council. In early November the Council asked Mr X to provide evidence of the noise for it to proceed with an investigation.
8. The Council is entitled to ask for evidence of the noise. If a person has a good reason why they cannot supply evidence we would expect the Council to consider taking other steps to investigate.
9. The Council asked Mr X for noise log sheets, noise recordings and any correspondence exchanged with the developer. When Mr X expressed difficulty providing this the Council said it could install noise monitoring equipment so Mr X did not need to provide recordings. However it maintained it was reasonable to request hand written log sheets and copies of any communications exchanged. It explained it needed to gather evidence to assess whether there was a noise nuisance.
10. It is up to the Council how to investigate and how to gather evidence to support an investigation. The Council took account of Mr X’s concerns but considered it still required some basic evidence from him. There is not enough evidence of fault in the Council’s decision making to justify an investigation.
11. I note Mr X has not provided the information requested. While this means any investigation is delayed I cannot say this is through any fault by the Council.
12. A council may issue a notice to control noise on a construction site under the Control of Pollution Act. It is not obliged to do so. The Council explained if it found evidence of a noise nuisance it would consider exercising this power. There is not enough evidence of fault in the Council’s decision making to justify an investigation.
13. Mr X is concerned the Council will not issue an abatement notice upon finding any nuisance. However, this is hypothetical at this stage as the Council has not yet completed an investigation or identified a nuisance. We cannot make findings on matters that have not yet occurred.
14. Mr X considers the Council’s monitoring officer should have issued a report due to the Council’s failure to investigate. However the officer explained they did not find any failings and so did not consider a report warranted. This is a judgement for the officer. There is not enough evidence of fault in the Council’s decision making to justify an investigation.
15. It is not a good use of our resources to investigate the Council’s complaint handling when we are not investigating the substantive complaint. Any remaining injustice is not significant enough to justify an investigation.

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Final decision

16. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because there is not enough evidence of fault.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman