Decision report 201003290

Summary
Mrs C, a housing association tenant, was unhappy about the effect of a major road development close to her home. She said that the council did not investigate her concerns about the effect that the disruption associated with the work has had on her health, her quality of life and her human rights. Both Mrs C and the housing association were formally told some six years earlier about the planning application to build the road, but neither objected at the time. There was also a public enquiry into the plans, although Mrs C did not know about this until after it happened. After the work began, Mrs C complained to the council about excessive noise and hours of working, apparent cracking in her building and rat infestations, all of which she said were the result of the road works. Unfortunately, the works did take a long time and we recognise that Mrs C clearly experienced considerable disruption because of them. However, our investigation found that when she complained to the council they responded to her concerns and appropriately investigated the issues that she raised.