STAGE 1 COMPLAINT WK202110574 Dear Mr. Austin, With reference to your correspondence below. I would advise a Stage 1 Corporate Complaint WK202110574 has now been logged for investigation and response within 20 working days. Should further time be required for investigation we will write to advise you accordingly. Yours sincerely, Housing Customer Team, Dudley MBC Hou.CustomerFeedback@dudley.gov.uk ------------------------------------------------------------------------ From: mail@dwaustin.net Sent: 24 March 2021 15:59 To: Hou.CustomerFeedback Subject: [EXTERNAL EMAIL] Ombudsman Enquiry WK202110270 Dear J, I haven't been able to find this reference within my own documents; I imagine that this refers to Ombudsman reference 36996 with Council references SR-000440347 (Stage One Complaint acknowledgement) and 19914 (Anti-social behaviour). I do not normally use 'bullet points' as they can lead to complications with regard to future formatting and presentation of documents, but I will use 'numbered paragraphs' with the assumption that these will be at least acceptable and noting that the Ombudsman prefers these. 1) A near-comprehensive account of the issue can be found at http://www.dwaustin.net/dahome2.html - 'Home Front' ; files are in plain text or in 'Word' format. 2) This is the text of my complaint made to the Council on 8th December 2020: "I rang a number of charities yesterday (7/12/20) with Shelter suggesting I pursue the Council's 'two-stage' complaints procedure before initiating the 'community-trigger'. Accordingly, I can confirm that the service area is 'Anti-Social Behaviour', and that I am concerned with 'Service Delivery'; the conduct of my neighbour, Philip 'Frothy' Bradley, at 157 High Street Lye Stourbridge DY9 8LT has been well-documented as part of ASB case 19914 and is reproduced at http://www.dwaustin.net/dahome2.html (Home Front) . I remain worried about a confrontation similar to that which occurred some weeks ago in which Frothy made his approach (after much threatening behaviour and abuse) which I managed to 'fend-off' before retiring to my apartment; I have succeeded in changing my life-style to avoid further confrontation - essentially leaving early and returning as early as possible, taking extreme care on my return as Frothy may appear at any of two entrances/exits to my suite of apartments or at the door of his own ground floor flat or, indeed, at the door of his friend's flat (at 158); this bizarre situation is obviously 'extremely detrimental' to my lifestyle and probably detrimental to my health, yet the Authorities will not attempt to resolve the difficulty." 3) Note that the text in Paragraph 2 was submitted to the Ombudsman on 15th March 2021, over 12 weeks since my original complaint through the Council's formal complaints procedure; initially, the Ombudsman considered that my complaint was made 'prematurely', but then retracted - it is currently considering a full investigation. 4) Note that ASB 19914 also involved contact with the Police and involves three characters, all close neighbours, (Philip Bradley of 157 High Street DY9 8LT, Colin Smart of 161 and 'Carole', M Smart's 'guest') and conduct that includes vulgar abuse, threatening behaviour and violent conduct - all highly regrettable as relations were at least 'functional' until this issue emerged. 5) The anti-social behaviour is ongoing with no response from the Council concerning the abuse of the, dying, communal front lawns (images have been provided) by M Bradley's dog, the occasional barking (particularly at those entering the building to service my apartment), and that awful stench making its way up the stairwell (my stomach's turning as I write!). 6) Carole's apparent drunkenness is one of the major problems here and is ongoing - the most recent report to the Council (15th March) included: "I am dismayed, once more, at the state of the communal landing this lunchtime where there are further food scraps, and tissues, close to the chute ... it is usually "Carole" that waddles across the landing and shovels food off the plate into the chute with much deposited about the landing ... I have previously supplied small bin-bags, if only as a hint, but there's been little improvement and I must halt this generosity owing to the Covid epidemic ... I've been telling myself that I must try to put-up with Carole's tuneless singing, shouting down the stair-well and slamming of doors as the next occupants of 161 may be no better, and just as drunken, but can something be done about this obnoxious anti-social behaviour?" DAustin --------------------------- Original Message ---------------------------- From: Hou.CustomerFeedback (Hou.CustomerFeedback@dudley.gov.uk) Date: 03/24/21 13:20 To:mail@dwaustin.net Subject: (JE) Premature Ombudsman Enquiry WK202110270 Dear Mr Austin, We have been contacted by the Ombudsman and requested that we log a formal complaint in regards to Anti-Social Behaviour. In order to investigate this in full can you please be kind enough to bullet point your dissatisfaction in regards to the ASB complaint handling process. Upon receipt of this information a Stage 1 complaint will then be logged for investigation and formal response in line with the Corporate Policy and Procedures which can be found on line at www.dudley.gov.uk please type Customer Feedback into search engine. Yours sincerely, J.