Summary: We will not investigate Miss X’s complaint about the Council’s handling of her complaint about noise nuisance. The Council has taken reasonable steps to investigate, before deciding to close the case. There is insufficient evidence of fault to warrant an investigation.

The complaint

1. Miss X says the Council has not investigated her complaints of anti-social behaviour thoroughly before closing the investigation and not provided regular updates on the situation.
2. Miss X says the noise has caused distress and she would like the Council to reopen the investigation.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. 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), as amended, section 34(B))

4. 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

5. I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
6. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

7. Miss X has raised several complaints to the Council in the last two years about alleged noise nuisance caused by her neighbours. The Council investigated the concerns through visits to the address on four occasions and responded to every complaint made by Miss X. Additionally, the Council offered Miss X a noise monitoring device (NME), which would allow Miss X to record instances of the noise herself, providing evidence. Miss X declined to use the NME as she felt it would not be able to capture the evidence sufficiently. The Council concluded there was insufficient evidence to warrant any further action.
8. Miss X remains dissatisfied with this decision and wants the investigation to be reopened, and action taken against her neighbours.
9. Having reviewed the case, I consider the Council has taken reasonable and proportionate steps to investigate the complaints. As such, there is insufficient evidence of fault in how the Council came to its decisions to justify an investigation by us. Further investigation would also be unlikely to lead to a different outcome.

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Final decision

10. We will not investigate Miss X’s complaint, as there is insufficient evidence of fault by the Council.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman