The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: Ms D complains about noise and odour nuisance from a nearby Council depot. The Ombudsman has discontinued the investigation because Ms D has not made any reports about nuisance in the period we can investigate. Further investigation by the Ombudsman would not lead to a different outcome.
The complaint
The complainant (whom I refer to as Ms D) refers to a noise and odour nuisance caused by waste disposal vehicles stored near her home. She complains about events covering a four-year period.
What I have investigated I considered events from November 2020 onwards.
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) The Ombudsman investigates 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 may decide not to continue with an investigation if we decide: 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))
How I considered this complaint
I considered the information provided by Ms D and I asked the Council questions.
I shared my draft decision with both parties.
What I found
Ms D has been reporting alleged noise and odour nuisance issues to the Council over a four-year period. However, it is clear from the Council’s records that the last report to Environmental Health was in Summer 2020. There have been no further reports from Ms D within the timeframe I am able to investigate.
Ms D made a formal complaint to the Council in August 2021. In response the Council visited the depot site and found no evidence of a statutory nuisance and found that, overall, best practice was being adhered to by staff.
Given Ms D has not made any reports of noise/ odour nuisance in the period I can consider there is little for me to investigate. The Council has given Ms D a thorough response to her complaints and visited the site. I do not see that further investigation by the Ombudsman would add to the understanding of the case or lead to a different outcome. I have discontinued the investigation.
Final decision
I have discontinued the complaint.
Parts of the complaint that I did not investigate The Ombudsman expects a complaint to be made to him within 12 months of the matters arising. We will not look back over a four-year period in this case.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman