Service improvements

Dacorum Borough Council

Showing service improvements between 1 April 2021 and 31 March 2026

Find out more about service improvements

When we find fault, we can recommend improvements to systems and processes where they haven’t worked properly, so that others do not suffer from these same problems in future. Common examples are policy changes; procedural reviews; and staff training. Service improvements from decisions are published for 5 years and those from reports are published for 10 years.

Showing 1 - 5 of 5 cases with service improvements

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Downloads the current filtered list of service improvement decisions for Dacorum Borough Council as a CSV file.

  • Dacorum Borough Council (24 015 859)

    Category: Environment and regulation Date: 09-Sep-2025

    Summary

    We have no grounds to criticise the Council’s decision that a noise does not amount to a statutory nuisance. However, there was fault by the Council, because it has considered irrelevant factors as part of its decision-making. This did not cause an injustice to the complainant, but the Council has agreed to issue guidance to its staff.

    Service improvements

    The Council has agreed to circulate a copy of the Government guidance on British Standard (BS)4142 to relevant staff, highlighting the fact is not relevant to a consideration of noise nuisance; andcirculate guidance to relevant staff explaining they must not consider the existence of a ‘best practicable means’ defence when investigating statutory nuisance, and highlighting the case law I have quoted in my decision.

  • Dacorum Borough Council (23 018 355)

    Category: Environment and regulation Date: 19-Sep-2024

    Summary

    Mrs X complained the Council failed to address dust nuisance from a construction site near her home. We found the Council failed to properly record or explain its findings when it closed its nuisance investigation, and failed to record evidence of dust suppression. This caused Mrs X frustration. The Council also failed to follow its nuisance investigation procedure on site visits, but this did not cause significant injustice. The Council was entitled to reach the view that no statutory nuisance exists.

    Service improvements

    The Council will remind environmental health officers to follow the Council’s nuisance investigation procedure on site visits, and of the importance of contemporaneous note taking, and giving complainants full and clear reasons for their decisions.

  • Dacorum Borough Council (22 003 438)

    Category: Housing Date: 10-Feb-2023

    Summary

    Mr Y complained the Council took too long to process and award priority to his housing application. We found delay by the Council in assessing Mr Y’s medical evidence. This fault meant Mr Y missed out on an offer of suitable accommodation. The Council has agreed to make a payment to Mr Y in acknowledgement of the injustice caused to him.

    Service improvements

    The Council will carry out a review of the IT system used by its housing allocations service to ensure there are no glitches causing delays in the consideration of medical evidence provided by applicants.

  • Dacorum Borough Council (21 006 954)

    Category: Planning Date: 28-Feb-2022

    Summary

    Mr B complained the Council wrongly confirmed an Article 4 Direction for an area in which he owns a plot of land. We found no fault in how the Council handled the Article 4 Direction process, we cannot therefore criticise the merits of its decision. Also, there was not fault in how it responded to Mr B’s complaint in 2021. However, it was at fault for failing to respond to him when he first brought his concerns to its attention in 2020. It has agreed to apologise to Mr B for the uncertainty this caused.

    Service improvements

    b)remind its staff to ensure reasonable complaints and concerns are responded to as set out in the Council’s complaints policy.

  • Dacorum Borough Council (21 006 599)

    Category: Planning Date: 28-Feb-2022

    Summary

    We will not investigate this complaint about matters surrounding a planning enforcement case. Mr X lives nearly 2 miles from the location of the alleged planning breach. We do not consider that any fault has caused Mr X an injustice that would justify our involvement.

    Service improvements

    c)remind its staff to respond to enforcement reports as set out in its Policy, and when it agrees to provide a response; d)remind its enforcement officers to provide realistic estimated timescales of the next steps in its enforcement process, when a request is made to it, as set out in its Policy; e)review the current enforcement cases within the Area and compare these with what have been reported to it. Thereafter, provide Mr B with the timescales for its next steps in the enforcement process. This may any no action, or further action as set out in the Council’s Policy.

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