Sheffield Council ordered to pay for noisy neighbours ‘screaming, banging and shouting abuse’

The Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman ordered the council to apologise and pay £100 to a resident after it failed to take enforcement action against their neighbours.

However, the sum was only a fraction of what the resident – referred to in the ombudsman’s report as ‘Ms J’ – paid when she was forced to take matters into her own hands.

Ms J reportedly spent a total of £1,700 on a noise assessment and wall insulation in efforts to block out the sound of her neighbours banging on the walls, screaming, shouting abuse at her and playing loud music every night.

She first made a noise complaint to the council in January 2020 and the ordeal continued for at least two years.

Nuisance from the neighbours persisted despite multiple warnings from the council and an abatement notice.

An investigation by the ombudsman found a number of failures in how the council dealt with the issue including that it did not show whether officers properly considered and reviewed the case after witnessing two breaches of the abatement notice.

In the report, the investigator said Ms J’s quality of life was affected and she was constantly anxious about her neighbour’s behaviour.

They added: “The injustice caused Ms J the distress of not knowing whether [the council] was taking any action. She also has the uncertainty, and possible lost opportunity, of not knowing whether the outcome might have differed had the fault not occurred.”

MORE POLITICS: Sheffield Council is failing to engage public in decision making, experts warn

What was done

The council agreed to take a number of actions within four weeks of the ombudsman’s decision at the end of April.

These included: sending a written apology to Ms J, paying her £100 for the injustice and measures to ensure the council does not repeat the same mistakes.

The full ombudsman report can be found here: https://www.lgo.org.uk/decisions/environment-and-regulation/noise/21-000-037#point1.