Thousands of Sandwell residents complain over neighbours

Sandwell Council has received more than 7,500 complaints over the past two years from residents driven to their wits' end over the actions of neighbours.

The figures, released under the Freedom of Information Act, act as a glimpse into the problems being faced daily by people living on the streets of the Black Country.

The biggest cause of frustration in Sandwell was noise, including dogs and music, which resulted in 2,037 complaints since August 2015 –- an average of almost three every day.

Close behind were grievances over rubbish, with a total of 1,911 logged with the council by fed-up residents.

Neighbourly disputes also arose over hedges, trees, leaves and boundaries, with around 1,500 complaints made, according to figures released by Sandwell Council.

Residents were also aggravated over the condition and maintenance of neighbouring properties felt to be dragging down the look of the surrounding area. Some 1,242 calls were made on this subject.

There were various other reasons that people complained about their neighbours across Sandwell, including parking and vehicles such as caravans and mobile homes, animals, artificial light and smoke.

The figures, which were released under the Freedom of Information Act, showed the number of complaints made against neighbours had dropped slightly between August 2016 and July 2017 compared with the previous year.

In 2015/16, council officials had to deal with 3,969 complaints. In 2016/17 the figure was 3,574.

Despite thousands of complaints from irate homeowners over noise only nine noise abatement orders were issued by Sandwell Council during the period.

Earlier this year, the Express & Star revealed Kingswinford resident Steve Jones was threatened with a fine of up to £5,000 after neighbours complained that his pet cockerel was making too much noise.