The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s handling of planning and environmental health matters relating to noise nuisance reported by Mr X over a number of years. This is because the complaint is a late complaint and so falls outside our jurisdiction due to the passage of time.
The complaint
Mr X complains the Council failed to properly investigate his reports of noise nuisance coming from a refrigeration room at a business close to his property. He says the equipment was installed without planning permission, the Council did not enforce the planning breach and it failed to take account of the low frequency noise nuisance.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
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)
How I considered this complaint
I considered information provided by the complainant, including the Council’s response to the complaint.
I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
The restriction highlighted at paragraph 3 applies to Mr X’s complaint. As he was aware of the problem of which he complains back in 2017 and we would reasonably have expected him to have complained to us about it sooner, the complaint is a late complaint and falls outside our jurisdiction due to the passage of time.
Final decision
We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because the complaint is a late complaint and so falls outside our jurisdiction due to the passage of time.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman