To think I shouldn't have to pay for this?

[Pollyxplummer]

I have been complaining to the council about my noisy neighbours for THREE YEARS and they have done absolutely nothing until last Tuesday when they finally wrote them a letter. A bloody letter after three years of complaints. Thanks
Anyway, the noise has of course not stopped and in the email where they informed me they were going to send a letter, they also said that if the noise doesn't stop, I shpuld record it using an app and send them the recordings. They put a link in the email.
I went to download it tonight ready to use for tomorrow mornings inevitable 4am start, and it is a paid-for app!
They haven't sent me a discount code or anything. Are they actually expecting me to pay??
Should I??

How much is app. I never seen apps for one than a pound of two.

But then we'd know how much it was

I have a carpark spot security light problem. The carpark is at the back of my house and wasn't there when we moved in 20 odd years ago. The lights could light up a football pitch. I complained to the council, sent photos did the form filling in on when the lights came on and how long for.
I'm up at 4 every morning and the lights come on about half four all year round.
They are blinding when you go into the garden. They are also on in the evening.
The women who's was incharge of my complaint phoned and said she had been round to look at the lights and thought they were OK. I said but you didn't come to see me and also the lights are not on in the day when she came round so that was a waste if time. I told her how stupid to look at a light that was off to make a judgement of how bright its impact was on the terrence I live in. I told her to stuff it.

Why does no one take responsibility for their own choices anymore You complain about noise then you complain about needing to collate useful information
Ye Gads

Think it through OP it's about the logistics of payment isn't it how exactly would the council pay for it for you when it's an app!

For the hassle the council would have to go through to add the app provider to their purchasing system, and then deal with invoicing and payment for anyone who needed to use it for this stuff quite obviously it's going to be easier and faster for everyone just to ask you to pay when it's just a minor cost of 2.99 or whatever.

There are loads of council services you have to pay for lots charge for pest control, for some additional refuse collections etc. Just pay the bloody fee for the app you sound so entitled

I believe the OP has got confused as others have mentioned it's the free Noise app that I and others have been instructed to use, or she's just been weirdly obtuse and awkward for some reason.

If you are being for real I would just double check with the council as the app is usually free.

Or you can keep ranting about the council and paying your council taxes, that might also help.

To be fair, the council have always since the beginning of time advised neighbours to record noise pollution from other neighbours. It’s just historically they were just saying go record it without any suggestion of how you do that.

This would mean you’d have to find your own way of recording it. I assume this means buying a recorder in the olden days!

Nowadays we have apps that do it. They have simply advised you to use an app that I assume they can collect the recording from easily, rather than you recording it with your own device and taking the cassette tape to the council offices.

I understand it feels a faff but if you are that passionate about it I would follow the due process. Almost all smart phones now have some kind of basic voice recorder on them or a free one in the App Store. I personally would simply have recorded it already without being asked to do And I would have emailed it to them long ago. The next issue will have is the voice recorder won’t be strong enough to pick up how noisy it really is, so I would maybe give a second thought to hiring a bulldozer and sorting it out yourself, as per your own suggestion.

I am sorry you are experiencing this OP but I think you need to exercise a bit more common sense OP. This thread is a molehill and mountain situation.

Just say how much it is. I get you are annoyed and it's the principle, but come on - if you want to sort it you will.

If you don't want to pay don't but shut up moaning about your neighbours then. It's a clear choice.

Getting people to pay helps weed out the malicious complainers. People are unlikely to pay for it unless there really is a problem.
For the sake of a few quid, if it is really that bad, just pay it. Anything else is cutting off your nose to spite your face.

If the price is irrelevant then your issue is with the process. Either you adhere to the process, as it appears to be the only way to try and get your issue solved, or you don’t and nothing happens.
Only you can decide which is more important, the neighbours issue or your stance of paying out a tiny amount to try and resolve the issue.

Tbh, it really doesn't matter if people think you shouldn't have to. Its not like you can go to the council, show them this thread and say look, some people on the Internet say I shouldn't have to pay!

They're hardly likely to reply "really? Oh well in that case we'll pay for it" now are they?

You have been told what you need to do. Download the app and record.

If you want to refuse because you shouldn't have to pay then the only person suffering is you.

You have to decide if continuing the process of getting this stopped is worth the effort you have to make and the price of the app .

Yep. Pick your battles.

Why do you think that paying your council tax entitles you to have everything for free from the council? They have loads of charged services.

But what else is the council supposed to do?

They can't just take your word for it that the neighbours are noisy...they need proof. Moaning about having to wake up and record the neighbours is strange.

The app needs paying for somehow and I'm not sure the council paying for it is a good use of council funds.

You keep saying "I pay my council tax so I shouldn't have to pay"
Pretty much everyone pays council tax, its bloody expensive but doesn't always cover everything every individual household wants it to cover...I had to pay extra to have some rubbish taken to the tip as it was bulky... I already pay for rubbish collection so is there is an argument my council tax should have covered that?? If council tax covered every little thing each household wanted it to cover, it would be even more expensive.

Councils are in deficit, hence the Local Government Reform that is currently underway. The cost of the services that they are obliged to provide are not covered by the funds they receive.

Complain to the department that you have contact with, if not resolved to your satisfaction, make a formal complaint, if still not resolved take it to the LGO.

In the meantime, buy the app and get the monitoring in progress, they've told you how you need to proceed and there will be very little flexibility in that, unfortunately, due to the number of services they deliver and the number of service users they are responsible for.

Good luck with that, @Pollyxplummer; you're not wrong, but the entire ethos of too many councils is to find reasons not to do things while constantly looking for more money to waste

I agree with PPs that you'll probably have to use the app, but don't expect any kind of action - unless perhaps you involve your councillors or MP, which seems just about the only way off kicking them into actually doing their jobs

I can’t see a choice if that is the app your council need the evidence obtained from. If you don’t download the app, consider your complaint closed. I hope it isn’t too expensive.

This is the mental and financial equivalent of complaining that you had to buy a stamp to post the sound diaries to them.

if you want to pursue the complaint there’s going to be some effort (including financial) from you. Jus purchase the app.

Then there’s no point to the thread.

@Pollyxplummer so this app is your hill to die on?
You have noisy neighbours for the last 3 years. The council are now actually interacting with you and your neighbours and have sent you method they use to collate noise data.
But now is the time that you think ....... I am not paying that! I will live with noisy neighbours forever before I pay for an app!

Reframe this payment to be a bit like paying for hospital parking. Yes you shouldn't need to but you have to use their facilities

This is ridiculous by the council and an attempt to not deal with a dire situation. Frankly, the noise team should be coming out to assess.
With our council, if noise issues aren't dealt with satisfactoryly, you can go to the local magistrates court for a resolution. Not sure if this is possible where you are, but possibly worth looking into.

This ^

Noise is also subjective. What’s normal to one person is intolerable to another. The council have the get the evidence.

If OP is being required to pay for an app, it would be useful to be sure that there are no commercial connections between the company that charge for the app and anyone in the council.

This may be all above board, or it could be someone abusing their position. For some reason grifters in local government appears to be a thing of late (it probably always was ....)

There's also a shed load of questions about the data the app will collect, who looks after it, where it's stored etc.

However I am sure the level of quiet compliance this thread seems to suggest won't be lost out in the world.

“My point was - it's irrelevant and I'm not going to let the thread become derailed from the actual point while everyone debates if the app is a bargain or not.”

The price of the app is completely relevant though. Your post is entitled “to think I shouldn’t have to pay” - people’s opinion (which is what you’re asking for) on whether you should have to pay will be determined by the price. If it’s cheap then yes you should have to pay as it’s no big deal. If it’s incredibly expensive then it’s unreasonable to expect you to pay.