Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s installation of a generator and roof vent in garages opposite the complainant’s home. There is not enough evidence of fault in the Council’s actions. And as the generator has not been used at night, the injustice claimed by the complainant is speculative.

The complaint

1. The complainant, I shall call Mr X, complains the Council installed a generator and roof vent in a garage block opposite his home without notifying him.
2. He says the noise caused by the generator will be a nuisance at night.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. The Ombudsman investigates 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 may decide not to continue with an investigation if we decide:

• there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating, or
• any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement

(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6))

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How I considered this complaint

4. I considered information provided by Mr X, including the Council’s responses to his complaint.
5. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

6. The Council has confirmed it installed a generator in a block of garages with a vent on the roof. The generator is to provide electricity to pump water for an adjacent block of flats in the event of total power failure.
7. It advises the conversion of the garage into a plant room for the generator benefits for permitted development rights. Permitted development rights are a national grant of planning permission which allow certain development (both building works and changes of use) to be carried out without making a planning application to the council as local planning authority. The Town and Country Planning (General Permitted Development) (England) Order 2015 sets out the main types of permitted development.
8. The garage meets the definition of a small ancillary building not exceeding 200 cubic metres. The Council acknowledges the vent of the roof is too high, but this will be reduced to comply with the permitted height.
9. In view of the information detailed in paragraphs seven and eight, I have not seen any evidence of fault in the Council’s action as permitted development does not require neighbour notification.
10. Mr X also complains the generator will cause a noise nuisance, especially at night. The Council confirms the generator will only be used in the event of total power failure to the adjacent flats. I understand Mr X’s concerns, however the generator has not been used at night as there has been no power failure to the flats. Therefore, any injustice he claims is speculative. It will be open to him to make a complaint if the generator does indeed cause a noise nuisance in the future.

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Final decision

11. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because there is insufficient evidence of fault in the Council’s actions. Nor do we consider that Mr X has suffered a significant personal injustice which warrants our involvement.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman