The red tape issue

has struck again. This time it has just about stifled someone who thought they had finally managed to get the local council to admit there was a problem.

A woman who lives a couple of streets away from the old house has been battling with the council over the noise level from her neighbour's air conditioning unit. This was illegally placed on the outside of their house - just outside her bedroom window. It emits a decibel level more than twice the allowed level and they keep it on all night. What is more the installation does not meet the required safety standards. It is potentially dangerous.

S... tried negotiating with the neighbours directly. It had no effect. She put all the necessary information to the council. They told her there was nothing wrong. If the noise bothered her she could go and sleep in another room. That was not the sort of response an intelligent and very able woman wanted to hear. She went to the Ombudsman's  Office. Their response was less than satisfactory. S...did more research. She found the legislation and took more measurements. Her neighbour is refusing to do anything. The council has now admitted there is a problem but says there is nothing they can do about it. Why?

S... has a small lap pool. It is surrounded by a fence which more than meets the legal standards but a council inspector also insisted that she had to have a certain type of gate onto the street and the gate had to meet certain requirements or the pool would have to be filled in. S... met the requirement for the gate even filling in the 5cm gap so that "nobody could climb through". (Yes, 5cm - not 50cm.) The council finally gave it all an "okay" but told her she was "lucky" they did not fine her. 

S... told me all this in a resigned sort of way. How was it, she asked me, that she had to go through all that but the neighbours who are blatantly breaking the law do not have to do the right thing? We went on through some other issues of red tape holding things back. There are much bigger issues which affect the entire population of course. If ever a country was almost unable to move because of red tape then ours has to be it.

I have moved in to the smaller living quarters. There is a step here. It  goes up to the tiny porch. I park the trike on the porch. There is nowhere else safe to put it. The policeman next door has permission to use the parking space I would use if I had a car. He has no problems with where I park my trike.He actually thinks it is where I should park it.

Yesterday someone else who lives in the same group as I do asked me if I had permission to park my trike on the porch. Did I also have permission to put in the small, moveable ramp? It was clear she was ready to argue with me. 

"If it was a wheelchair what would you say?" I asked her. 

She huffed and told me, "You would still need permission". Then she strode off. I am waiting for the complaint to come from the managers of the units. When it comes I will fight them.