The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s alleged failure to take action regarding Mr X’s noise complaint. This is because an investigation would be unlikely to find fault with the Council’s actions.
The complaint
Mr X complained the Council has not done enough to address excessive dog barking taking place near his home.
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 Mr X and the Council.
I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
Mr X complained to the Council in December 2023 stating that excessive dog barking taking place near his home since 2021 was impacting his mental health and his family.
The Council did not uphold his complaint. The Council said after installing noise monitoring equipment and reviewing Mr X’s noise sheet diaries it did not find evidence of a statutory nuisance. Mr X brought his complaint to the Ombudsman because he was unhappy with the Council’s response.
The Ombudsman cannot question the outcome of a decision made by the Council if the evidence shows it made the decision in line with the correct process. The Council has reviewed a range of evidence and determined that the issue was not a statutory nuisance. The Council was entitled to make this decision and there is nothing to suggest the Council acted with fault in how it made this decision. An investigation would therefore be unlikely to result in a finding of fault.
Final decision
We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because an investigation would be unlikely to find fault with the Council’s actions.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman