The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s handling of Ms X’s complaints about her neighbours. This is because we are unlikely to find evidence of fault by the Council sufficient to warrant an investigation.
The complaint
Ms X complains the Council has poorly managed the complaints she has made about her neighbours. She says she has been ignored and called unreasonable and feels bullied and gaslighted and deserves an apology.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
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) 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, or any fault has not caused injustice to the person who complained, or any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement, or we could not add to any previous investigation by the organisation, or further investigation would not lead to a different outcome. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))
How I considered this complaint
I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council, including its response to the complaint.
I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
Ms X complained to the Council about her neighbours and the noise nuisance they were causing her.
The Council investigated but found insufficient evidence to take enforcement action and it explained this to Ms X. It did not uphold her complaint about its behaviour towards her.
It is not our role to act as a point of appeal against decisions made by councils with which complainants disagree. We cannot question decisions made by councils if they have followed the right steps and considered the relevant evidence and information.
We do not investigate every complaint we receive and while Ms X may be disappointed with the outcome of the Council’s investigations, there is no evidence to suggest fault affected them and there are insufficient grounds to warrant an investigation of her complaint.
Final decision
We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint because we are unlikely to find evidence of fault by the Council sufficient to warrant an investigation.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman