Hinckley and Bosworth Borough Council must pay £7,500 to two families who endured years of excessive noise because the authority failed to take swift enforcement action
The Local Government Ombudsman (LGO) ordered the local authority to pay the families compensation and donate a further £1,000 to the village schoolroom committee for the benefit of other residents who had joined in this complaint.
Kirkby Mallory residents, who live near the Mallory Park racing circuit, complained to the LGO that the council had failed to take action when the previous track operator breached the conditions of an enforcement notice, and increased the number and frequency of events.
A noise attenuation notice issued by the council in 1985 specified the number of events that could be held at the track. In 2012, for example, events were planned for 27 of the 32 Saturdays between April and October when the 1985 notice allowed only four.
The residents complained to the council in March 2011, but it did not start collecting evidence for a prosecution until August 2012. Court proceedings against the (now former) race-track operator started in February 2013.
The LGO also recommended that the council consider whether alterations to the track and the introduction of spectator bunds had reduced noise levels.
