The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not exercise discretion to investigate this complaint about the Council taking action for noise nuisance from 2020. It was received outside the normal 12-month period for investigating complaints. There is no evidence to suggest that Ms X could not have complained to us sooner.
The complaint
Ms X complained about the Council’s officers dealing with her unfairly when they served an abatement notice and two community protection notices on her for noise nuisance caused by her dogs.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
We cannot investigate late complaints unless we decide there are good reasons. Late complaints are when someone takes more than 12 months to complain to us about something a council has done. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26B and 34D, as amended) We cannot investigate a complaint about the start of court action or what happened in court. (Local Government Act 1974, Schedule 5/5A, paragraph 1/3, as amended) We cannot investigate a complaint if someone has appealed to a tribunal or a government minister or started court action about the matter. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(6), as amended)
How I considered this complaint
I considered information provided by the complainant.
I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
Ms X was served with an abatement notice by the Council following investigations into noise disturbance by her dogs in 2018 and complaints by neighbours. The Council considered this to be a statutory nuisance and the notice was served in April 2019. She received a criminal conviction for failing to comply with the notice.
The Council continued to receive complaints and its investigations concluded that the abatement notice had not been complied with so it issued a Community Protection Notice (CPN) warning on Ms X for failure to comply with the abatement notice. The CPN was served following further complaints from six different neighbouring properties. Ms X later appealed the CPN in December 2020. The appeal was dismissed and the court found no evidence of racism by neighbours which mitigated the nuisance she was said to be causing.
In May 2021 the notice expired and further notice was served. Ms X complained to the Council about the main officer involved who she said was baissed towards her neighbours. The Council rejected the complaint and advised her to complain to us.
In March 2022 the court upheld her appeal against the second CPN and it was quashed. She complained to us as she believes this justifies her views of the Council’s involvement since 2018.
We will not investigate Ms X’s complaints about the matters prior to May 2021. It was reasonable for her to complain to us earlier. However, as these matters were subject to court hearings, we would not have been able to investigate at the time.
Ms X could have complained to us after May 2021 but the second notice had already been served and it was reasonable for her to appeal, which she did. The decision of the court is binding and we have no authority to consider matters which have been subject to a court appeal. This includes the earlier issues which were rejected by the court.
Final decision
We will not exercise discretion to investigate this complaint about the Council taking action for noise nuisance from 2020. It was received outside the normal 12-month period for investigating complaints. There is no evidence to suggest that Ms X could not have complained to us sooner.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman