How are complaints handled?

We will not reveal the identity of a complainant to the person complained about without obtaining prior authorisation of the complainant. In most cases, we will approach the person complained about to notify him/her of the complaint and seek an informal resolution that everyone involved is content with. Where such as approach is not effective, we will take further steps to investigate the matter in order to determine whether formal action against the person causing the problem is justified.

We have an Environmental Nuisance Policy which gives further information in respect of how nuisance problems of this nature are handled.

We also have a separate Enforcement Policy which sets out our approach to deciding when to take enforcement action. This is most relevant to businesses and individuals who may be the subject of enforcement action.

Nuisance Diary Records

In many cases, we ask complainants to complete diary record sheets in order to provide a record of every incident relevant to the complaint.  The reasons for completing such records are to provide information which will assist in our investigation and to serve as evidence which could, if necessary, be used in any future legal proceedings.  Where required, we will provide these and will post additional diary sheets if needed, upon request.  However, it may be more convenient for some people to print off additional diary sheets as and when they are needed.

For this purpose, three types of record sheets are available to download at the foot of this page:

  • Noise nuisance diary record sheet - for noise complaints only
  • Odour nuisance diary record sheet - for odour complaints only
  • Nuisance problem diary record sheet - for all other types of complaint, such as bonfire, smoke or dust complaints.

For further information and advice, please contact the  Environmental Health Protection Team:

Environmental Health Protection Team
Housing & Environmental Health Service
Test Valley Borough Council
Beech Hurst
Weyhill Road
Andover
Hants  SP10 3AJ

Email: envhealth@testvalleygov.uk
Tel:  01264 368000