Person A has had a long-standing issue with periods of anti-social behaviour from a neighbour. This presents generally as excessive noise, such as loud music, the slamming of doors, and addiction related behaviours. This has coincided with a period of serious ill health which has had a huge impact on the family unit, particularly when the noise issues are at the worst. Person B is working through addiction and poor mental health and had been on an NHS waiting list since 2017 up until recently, awaiting treatment.

Often, they have no recollection of their behaviour, due to black outs and subsequent amnesia. The incidents have been few and far between, leaving it difficult for the Neighbourhood Officer to capture a trend and enough admissible evidence to produce in court. Noise monitoring equipment has been installed several times, but this has unfortunately coincided with periods of calm and has subsequently been refused more recently. This has meant that the investigation process has been drawn out over a significant period of time due to the up and down nature of Person B’s behaviour and ensuring the ASB threshold being reached. This has led to significant frustration for both Person A and our staff.

Support was offered to Person A in an effort to help them manage the ongoing situation. When we met with them, we explored numerous avenues of support, including social groups, mental health & NHS services, as well as charities and volunteer opportunities. After speaking with them, it turned out that they had a healthy social life, undertook regular day trips out and holidays away. They were members of a tennis club and played weekly and had a good support network of friends and family close by. It was agreed with them that we were unable to signpost or assist them further outside of the support their neighbourhood officer was already offering. Although we were unable to offer any practical assistance in this instance, I felt the process of reviewing their situation and discussing support opportunities was a cathartic step for them. This process gave them some assurance that not only were they doing everything they could to manage their current difficulties but also showed that NDH does care and takes complaints seriously, a concern which they had raised previously. It was agreed that the Neighbourhood Officer would continue to contact them fortnightly, and an offer of support would remain in place.

Person B was offered and accepted support which has been in place since February. They have engaged with our service and successful signposting has meant they are now working with ‘Together’ the drug and alcohol support agency, in a bid to manage and overcome their addiction. They have engaged well with mental health services and have embraced counselling as part of their recovery. The neighbourhood and environmental health officer have met several times with both parties in order to find a way forward and offered mediation as part of this process. Unfortunately, this offer was turned down, however, does remain on the table. We have completed upgrades to doors and properties and offered flooring in an effort to minimise day to day noise transference. This appears to have been successful in dulling noise and reducing instances of complaint.

Person D was referred to the Specialist Support Team following complaints about their next-door neighbour, regarding drug dealing and drug taking, possible prostitution, domestic violence, physical violence, noise nuisance and property damage.

They made multiple calls to the Customer Care Team (CCT). They preferred to use this method to log incidents of antisocial behaviour of their neighbour. The CCT struggled to deal with the number of calls being made by them, they would also speak about their worsening mental health, insinuating this was due to the lack of support they were receiving from NDH about this matter. 

The Community Services Team were approached for support due to the amount of time spend triaging Person D's calls. Concerns were also raised about their mental health which appeared to worsen due to the ASB of the neighbour.

General Data Protection Regulation’s (GDPR) placed limits on the information NDH was able to be disclosed to them about how NDH were dealing with the issues raised by her. They said that the lack of information was affecting her mental health. They sometimes felt threatened and not safe in their property, they would leave her property for a time. They took pride in her garden and was upset by the untidy front garden of their neighbour. They were also upset that they paid their rent on time but that their neighbour was allowed to accrue arrears. They received information about their neighbour from other tenants living in the street and via Facebook, which they would bring to the attention of NDH. 

Person D's daughter had planned to spend some time at the property so they could get some help with their newborn child. This arrangement had to be cancelled on several occasions due to ASB incidents reported at the neighbouring address.  Their daughter did not feel safe at the address during these periods and did not want her baby there. 

They asked for a meeting with NDH to voice their concerns. They were supported by their Local MP to discuss the concerns with NDH about the effect their neighbour was having on them and their family.

Specialist support was offered, this gave Person D direct means of contacting either a Neighbourhoods Officer and  or a member of the Specialist support Team. They could contact us regarding incidents of ASB or the effect of their neighbour’s actions on their mental health.

Welfare checks were made by the Specialist Support Team when they disclosed that they had taken an overdose of medication. Appointment made with her GP when they were showing signs of being in psychosis.

Person D was supported to report incident of ASB using Nuisance Diary, logging incidents with the police and using recording equipment and the recording App. They had difficulty logging incidents this way, preferring to call the Customer Care Team to verbally log incidents over the phone. 

They were encouraged to accept grief counselling being offered to her from North Devon Hospice.  She was reluctant to do this as she was not ready to discuss her feelings about the death of important people in her life.

NDH staff contacted the Community Mental Health Team, her GP and the Social Prescribing Team at their Doctors Surgery regarding their mental health.

They were sign posted to activities and community events which may be of interest.  They were also encouraged to keep up with arts and crafts projects that they enjoyed.

They asked to be moved to another address due to the stress and anxiety being caused by the ASB at the neighbouring property. They was supported to join Devon Home Choice and bid weekly on properties.

Also they were signposted to take part in the Straw Patch Project run by NDH

The neighbour was supported to move to another property which we hope is more suitable to their needs. Consideration will be placed on who will be allocated the property, to limit the possibility of ASB from the incoming tenants.

Person D continues to be supported by the Specialist Support team.