Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council allowing pile driving on a development close to the complainant’s home. The Planning Inspector granted planning permission without controls on such activity. Therefore, the Council cannot stop or restrict it.

The complaint

1. The complainant, I shall call Mr D, says the Council is discriminating against him by allowing pile driving in the morning on a nearby development site. He says as shift worker, this is causing sleep deprivation and pile driving should be limited to afternoons only.

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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 effect on the person making the complaint, which we call ‘injustice’. We provide a free service but must use public money carefully. We may decide not to start an investigation if the tests set out in our Assessment Code are not met. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A (6), as amended)
3. We investigate complaints about councils and certain other bodies. We cannot investigate the actions of bodies such as the Planning Inspectorate. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 25 and 34A, as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

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

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My assessment

6. Mr D complains about noise and vibration from pile driving at a nearby developments site. He says the Council has failed to restrict the activity to afternoons only and is therefore discriminating against him as a shift worker.
7. Planning permission for the development was granted by the Planning Inspectorate.
8. The Planning Inspector did not place any restrictions on pile driving on the development. The developer says pile driving will take place between 8.30am and 4.30pm. Without the Planning Inspectorate placing limits on the time pile driving can take place, the Council cannot restrict it.
9. The Council has offered to liaise between Mr D and its Environmental Health team to establish whether the noise caused by the pile driving is a Statutory Nuisance.

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Final decision

10. We will not investigate Mr D’s complaint because the Council cannot restrict the pile driving activity. The Planning Inspectorate did not include any limits on the time of such operations when it granted planning permission.

Investigator’s decision on behalf of the Ombudsman

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman