Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s handling of noise complaints made against Ms X. This is because there is insufficient evidence of fault by the Council to warrant an investigation.

The complaint

1. Ms X complains about the Council’s handling of noise complaints made against her by her neighbours. She says there was a lack of timely communication in relation to mediation and that she has not been given specific information about the parameters of when she can play music etc and has only been told to be reasonable in terms of times and levels.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
3. The law says we cannot normally investigate a complaint when someone could take the matter to court. However, we may decide to investigate if we consider it would be unreasonable to expect the person to go to court. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(6)(c), as amended)
4. We investigate complaints of injustice caused by ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’ which we call ‘fault’. 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)
5. 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))

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How I considered this complaint

6. I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council, including its response to the complaint.
7. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

8. The Council served Ms X with an Abatement Notice following neighbour complaints of noise nuisance from her property. A person who receives such a Notice has a right to appeal against it in the magistrates’ court. As this is the case, and we would reasonably expect Ms X to have made use of this alternative remedy, we will not investigate the issuing of the Notice.
9. Ms X says the Council failed to provide timely information in relation to mediation between her and her neighbours. She says she asked about mediation in November 2023 but it only responded in February 2024. Even if this is the case, an investigation would be unlikely to conclude Ms X was caused injustice as a result of any delay, particularly given the neighbours did not agree to mediation and that breaches of the Notice subsequently occurred.
10. Ms X says the Council has not been clear about noise parameters but it has explained that there is no cut-off time for music, that the noise must be at a reasonable level and not played at such a volume so that it causes a statutory nuisance.

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Final decision

11. We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint because there is insufficient evidence of fault by the Council to warrant an investigation.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman