Summary: We will not investigate Ms Y’s complaint about the Council’s handling of a noise nuisance because there is not enough evidence of fault to justify our involvement.

The complaint

1. Ms Y complains about the Council’s handling of a noise nuisance. Ms Y reported issues with a barking dog and says the Council did not handle her concerns properly.

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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), section 34(B))

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How I considered this complaint

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

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My assessment

5. Ms Y says the Council did not handle her complaint properly and failed to support her when she reported issues with a barking dog. However, there is not enough evidence of fault in the Council’s actions to justify our involvement.
6. The Council offered to install noise monitoring equipment in Ms Y’s property, but she refused. It explored other options but had no evidence of a noise nuisance of which it could act against. It remains open to installing noise monitoring equipment, if Ms Y consents to this.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman