Decision Report 201403395

Summary

Mr C had complained over a number of years to the council about problems of anti-social behaviour from his neighbours. He was dissatisfied with the council's handling of his complaints about noise nuisance, and said that they had been hesitant to take action within the powers at their disposal. He also complained that the council had withdrawn their service from him on this, and as a result he had suffered three weeks of anti-social behaviour with no service. He also complained of delay in the handling of his complaint.

We found that the council had stopped the call-out service by officers, who had visited in response to complaints from Mr C of noise nuisance, because there had been counter-complaints about Mr C's behaviour. However, we found no evidence that the council had not continued to deal with his complaint, including making arrangements for sound monitoring equipment to be installed in his home. We found nothing wrong with the thoroughness of the council's investigation into Mr C's complaint. The council recognised there was delay in replying to Mr C, so we upheld his complaint about this, but as they had already apologised, which we considered satisfactory, we did not make a recommendation.