Noisy neighbour made Lincolnshire resident ill and scared children

The verbal abuse and persistent noise led to significant mental and physical health problems, and instilled fear in their children. They even resorted to sleeping on the sofa.

This is one case being presented to Lincolnshire Council’s public protection and communities scrutiny committee.

The report says: “Ongoing ASB was affecting their mental and physical health due to lack of sleep, they were having to sleep on the sofa to get away from the noise and it was impacting their job.

“Their children were afraid to sleep in their own rooms and scared to go to the toilet alone during the night.”

The report seeks to enhance understanding of the ASB community trigger process.

Since September 2022, the unnamed victim has endured persistent problems, reporting the issues to the council’s environmental health department, Lincolnshire Police, and their landlord.

Despite these reports, the problems continued.

In Lincolnshire, a victim can request a formal review of their case if they have reported three separate but related incidents to either the district council, police, or registered housing provider within the preceding six months, and the ASB continues.

Over the past year, Lincolnshire received 12 applications for the trigger, conducted four case reviews, and made recommendations in two instances.

The report reveals: “The panel heard how the ongoing ASB was affecting the victim’s mental and physical health due to lack of sleep, impacting their job and causing fear among their children.

“The meeting focused on finding an end to the ASB, not on finding fault in the way agencies responded.”

The victim had the opportunity to share the harm and impact of the ASB with the panel, underlining the personal toll of such incidents.

Following the review panel meeting, the panel identified several actions to address the problem, including the use of a community protection notice warning, signposting the neighbour to support services and police house-to-house enquiries.

The report noted: “It was identified agencies had not been as joined up as they could have been in managing the case and this was taken away as a learning outcome.”