TRAFFORD Council has apologised for failing to fulfil promises it made to an angry resident.

It comes after a ruling by the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman (LGSCO), which investigates complaints about councils, care homes and other organisations.

The resident, referred to as Mr X, told the ombudsman he went to Trafford Council around two and a half years ago after the arrival of new neighbours to his terraced house.

He said the neighbours made a lot of noise throughout the day and into the middle of the night.

In response, the council told Mr X to make a record of the noise, and installed recording apparatus of its own. The LCSCO said there was nothing wrong with this response.

However, the ombudsman took issue with promises made by a temporary officer for Trafford Council, who visited the terraced house and said he would get the neighbours' letting agent to install carpets in their house to limit the noise.

The council went as far as arranging with the letting agent to install the carpets, although the work was not done, but it has since admitted it had no power to do so.

Eventually, the neighbours moved to a different house and the noise is no longer a problem.

The LGSCO's ruling said: "The council’s temporary officer took steps to remove the disturbance to Mr X by liaising with the letting agent.

"The council committed itself to doing more than its powers allowed. I find it acted with fault avoidably and wrongly raising Mr X’s expectations of formal action."

The ombudsman ordered Trafford Council to apologise to Mr X and also to pay him £200.

A spokesperson for Trafford Council said: "The case involved a resident who was experiencing noise from a neighbour through the adjoining walls of Victorian terraced housing.

"The council responded to the potential noise nuisance, but in doing so a temporary member of staff made promises to the resident that could not be fulfilled.

"The council acknowledges these promises exceeded the council’s abilities to act on the case, and in turn raised the residents expectations of what could be achieved.

"The council apologised in person to the resident once the matter came to light, and it has done so again in line with the ombudsman's recommendations."