Brighton & Hove City Council (24 006 769)
Category : Environment and regulation > Noise
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 13 Jan 2025
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about a failure to agree to inspect the complainant’s home because of alleged vibration caused by traffic. We have not seen enough evidence of fault in the Council’s actions to justify an investigation.
The complaint
- Miss X complains the Council refuses to inspect her home for a reported health hazard.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
- 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))
How I considered this complaint
- I considered information provided by Miss X and the Council.
- I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
- Miss X says she suffers from noise and vibration in her home. She says this is caused by the traffic on the road outside.
- Section 79 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990 creates a duty on councils to investigate and, where identified, take action to address statutory nuisances. Under the Act, a statutory nuisance is one which:
- unreasonably and substantially interferes with the use or enjoyment of a home or other premises; and / or
- injures health or is likely to injure health.
- However, the Act also excludes things which are NOT classed as a statutory nuisance. This includes noise from general traffic.
- The Council confirms officers have inspected the road outside Miss X’s home.
Final decision
- We will not investigate Miss X’s complaint because there is no obligation for the Council to visit her home. It has inspected the road outside and found no issues to cause excessive noise or vibration. This is a decision the Council is entitled to make.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman