Being a Bad Neighbour - the Council's Enforcement Position
Part of your success will be determined by your ability to be a good neighbour, both to nearby residents and other businesses. We believe that the whole community needs to work together during this time to support and look after one another. The Council has to balance supporting Businesses at the same time as offering support to our community when they ask for help or complain about a business.
The Council has legal duties which haven't gone away because of COVID. We have some discretion in certain areas, for example planning, but not in others like noise nuisance.
If we receive a complaint about your business we will investigate that complaint and as part of that process we will contact you and ask you what you can do to put things right in the first instance. We are aware that some complaints may be malicious, or vexatious, and always bear this in mind. But if we think the complaint is justified and we have the evidence to prove it, we may have to take formal action.
When deciding what action to take one of the factors we consider is your attitude and past compliance. So if we ask you to speak to us about a problem, then please speak to us. If we ask you to take action to put things right then please do those things we ask. If you can't do something we are asking you, then please tell us why you can't - we will listen to you and take these factors into consideration.