Complaints about noise nuisance from barking dogs

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Dear Mr White

Thank you for your information request dated 22 August 2010 (received by
the Council on 23 August 2010) which has been passed to the Council's
Neighbourhood Services Department for attention.

The Council will respond to your request within 20 working days following
the date of receipt, but we hope to respond to your request at an earlier
date where possible.

In the meantime, if you have any queries, please ask for me on 01307
476246 or email [email address]

Yours sincerely

Martin Friedrich

Martin Friedrich
Paralegal - FOI
Corporate Services Department
Angus Council
Angus House, Orchardbank
Forfar DD8 1AN
Tele: 01307 476246
E-mail: [email address]

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This e-mail is confidential and intended solely for the use of the
individual to whom it is addressed. It does not constitute a
representation which is legally binding on the Council or which is capable
of constituting a contract and may not be founded upon any proceedings
following hereon unless specifically indicated otherwise. Any views or
opinions presented are those of the author and do not necessarily
represent those of Angus Council. If you are not the intended recipient
be advised that you have received this e-mail in error and that any use,
dissemination, forwarding, printing, or copying of this e-mail or its
content is strictly prohibited and may be unlawful. If you have received
this e-mail in error please contact [1][email address] quoting the sender
and delete the message and any attached documents.
Angus Council email may be subjected to monitoring for security and
network management reasons. If a message contains inappropriate content
it may be automatically intercepted.

Dear Mr White

I refer to your request for information dated 22 August 2010 (received by
the Council on 23 August 2010). I must apologise that the Council has not
been able to respond to your request by the statutory deadline of 20
September 2010. I have discussed your request with the relevant Council
departments. However, some information provided by the
Council's Neighbourhood Services Department requires further verification
by their Departmental Information Officer which I have not yet been able
to obtain.

I will get back in touch as soon as I am in a position to release a
response to you. Please refer to the attached information which explains
your right to complain if you are unhappy with how the Council has dealt
with your request. If you have any queries, please contact me on 01307
476246 or e-mail [email address]

Yours sincerely,

Martin Friedrich

Martin Friedrich
Paralegal - FOI
Corporate Services Department
Angus Council
Angus House, Orchardbank
Forfar DD8 1AN
Tele: 01307 476246
E-mail: [email address]

show quoted sections

This e-mail is confidential and intended solely for the use of the
individual to whom it is addressed. It does not constitute a
representation which is legally binding on the Council or which is capable
of constituting a contract and may not be founded upon any proceedings
following hereon unless specifically indicated otherwise. Any views or
opinions presented are those of the author and do not necessarily
represent those of Angus Council. If you are not the intended recipient
be advised that you have received this e-mail in error and that any use,
dissemination, forwarding, printing, or copying of this e-mail or its
content is strictly prohibited and may be unlawful. If you have received
this e-mail in error please contact [1][email address] quoting the sender
and delete the message and any attached documents.
Angus Council email may be subjected to monitoring for security and
network management reasons. If a message contains inappropriate content
it may be automatically intercepted.

Dear Mr White

Request for Information

Thank you for your request for information dated 22 August 2010 (received
by the Council on 23 August 2010) which has been passed to me for
attention. Further to my email of 21 September 2010 I now have had the
opportunity to review additional information from the Council's
Neighbourhood Services Department. Again, I apologise for the delay in
responding to your request.

You have requested the following information and I am dealing with each
point in turn:

1. How many complaints have been received by Angus Council during the
past three years (broken down annually) regarding noise nuisance from
barking dogs?

2. How many of these complaints have been satisfactorily resolved?

3. How many of these complaints have not been resolved and are ongoing?

4. What powers are available to the council to abate noise nuisance from
barking dogs?

5. On how many occasions have these powers been exercised by Angus
council?

6. What redress is available to council taxpayers if Angus Council fails
to exercise its powers to abate noise nuisance from barking dogs?

7. Does Angus Council consider persistent noise nuisance from barking
dogs to constitute anti social behaviour under the Anti Social
Behaviour Act? If not, why not?

8. How does Angus Council discriminate between owner occupiers, private
tenants and social housing (including local authority) tenants in
choosing to exercise its powers to abate noise nuisance from barking
dogs?

I have been advised as follows (numerals refer to those of your request):

1.

+------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| 12-months-ending | Complaints |
|-------------------------------------------+----------------------------|
|22/08/2008 | 179 |
|-------------------------------------------+----------------------------|
|22/08/2009 | 126 |
|-------------------------------------------+----------------------------|
|22/08/2010 | 128 |
+------------------------------------------------------------------------+

2.

+------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| 12-months-ending | Complaints resolved |
|-------------------------------------------+----------------------------|
|22/08/2008 | 179 |
|-------------------------------------------+----------------------------|
|22/08/2009 | 126 |
|-------------------------------------------+----------------------------|
|22/08/2010 | 126 |
+------------------------------------------------------------------------+

3. Two

4. The Council may exercise powers in terms of the Antisocial Behaviour
etc. (Scotland) Act 2004 and the Environmental Protection Act 1990.

5. The Council has not used powers provided under the Environmental
Protection Act. However, it has used its powers in all cases dealt
with under the Antisocial Behaviour etc. (Scotland) Act.

6. There is no specific redress available for council tax payers.
However, it is my understanding that any person may lodge a complaint
to the Council.

7. Yes

8. The information you have requested is published on the Council's
website, and I refer you in particular to the following weblink:
http://www.angus.gov.uk/services/view_se...

I hope that this information is of some help to you. Please note that the
information contained in this reply is believed to be accurate as of
today's date (unless otherwise indicated) but no warranty is given.
Further, Angus Council does not accept liability for any loss, injury or
damage which arises from the use of the information contained in this
reply either by you or by any other party. Please refer to the information
set out below which explains your right to complain if you are unhappy
with how the Council has dealt with your request. If you have any queries,
please contact me on 01307 476246 or e-mail [email address]

Yours sincerely,

Martin Friedrich

Martin Friedrich

Paralegal - FOI

Corporate Services Department

Angus Council

Angus House, Orchardbank

Forfar DD8 1AN

Tele: 01307 476246

E-mail: [email address]

FREEDOM OF INFORMATION (SCOTLAND) ACT 2002: YOUR RIGHT TO COMPLAIN

Your Right to Complain to the Council

If you are dissatisfied with the way in which Angus Council has dealt with
your request for information under the Freedom of Information (Scotland)
Act 2002 (the Act), you have a right to ask the council to review its
actions and/or decisions regarding your request. If you wish to do this,
you should make your request to the Head of Law and Administration, Angus
Council, Angus House, Orchardbank Business Park, Forfar DD8 1AN or e-mail
[Angus Council request email] within 40 working days.

Your request must:

. be in a recordable format (letter, e-mail, audio tape etc);

. give your name and address for correspondence;

. give details of the information which you originally requested
from the council; and

. give the reasons why you are dissatisfied with the way in which
your application for information has been dealt with.

Your application for review will then be considered by the Council's
review panel. The review panel will write to you informing you of its
decision not later than 20 working days after receipt of your request for
a review. The review panel will also provide you with a statement of its
reasons for arriving at the decision it has made.

Your Right to Complain to the Scottish Information Commissioner:

If you are dissatisfied with a decision of the Council's review panel (or
where the review panel has not provided you with a response), you have the
right to apply to the Scottish Information Commissioner for a decision as
to whether your request for information has been dealt with by the Council
in accordance with the Act.

Your application to the Scottish Information Commissioner must:

. be made within 6 months of receipt of the decision of the
Council's review panel (or within 6 months of the date that the review
panel should have responded);

. be in a recordable format (letter, e-mail, audio tape etc);

. give your name and address for correspondence.

. give details of the request for information which you
originally requested from the council;

. give details of why you were dissatisfied with the Council's
response to your original request;

. give details of why you were dissatisfied with the decision of
the Council's review panel.

The Scottish Information Commissioner can be contacted at:-

Scottish Information Commissioner, Kinburn Castle, Doubledykes Road, St
Andrews, Fife, KY16 9BS;

Telephone - 01334 464610; Fax -01334 464611; Email -
[email address])

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