Watford Borough Council

Complaints about excessive noise are investigated by officers who can take action if the noise is considered to be a statutory nuisance.

When is noise nuisance a statutory nuisance?

Noise nuisance is covered by Part III of the Environmental Protection Act 1990. This law empowers local authorities to deal with noise from fixed premises. Before action can be taken we have to be sure the noise constitutes a statutory nuisance. This means we have to prove the noise is prejudicial to health and/or is causing an unreasonable and persistent disturbance to your lifestyle.

There are a number of different sources of noise pollution, including:

• neighbourhood noise (e.g. loud music, DIY)
• barking dogs
• commercial noise (e.g. noisy machinery, pubs and clubs)
• construction site noise
• aircraft noise
• noise in the street/road traffic noise
• car and house alarms
• parties
• fireworks

Neighbourhood noise

Excessive noise from neighbours can be frustrating and can cause a lot of unnecessary stress and worry. In many cases, the person making the noise is unaware they are causing a problem. This can usually be sorted out quite quickly by letting the person know the noise is affecting you.

If this approach fails, you can ask the Council to investigate. Usually, we write to the person making the noise and ask them to take any necessary steps to prevent the noise. We also ask you to complete diary sheets detailing the noise and its effect on you. We will assess the diary sheets and determine the extent of the disturbance. Noise recording equipment is then usually installed, or an officer will make arrangements to visit you if the noise is very regular. Arrangements to visit outside office hours may also be made if appropriate. You may also be asked for a witness statement.

After investigation, if the Officer is satisfied that a statutory nuisance exists, a Noise Abatement Notice under the Environmental Protection Act 1990 will be served on the person causing the problem. Where the notice requires work, a period of time will be given to allow it to be carried out. Failure to comply with the notice after that time is a criminal offence and the person could be prosecuted.

There are some occasions where the Council is unable to take action, particularly where the noise occurs intermittently, is quiet or is general living noise and is not judged to be a statutory nuisance. The Council can only take action if the noise is a statutory nuisance. If formal action cannot be taken, you will be informed of the reasons and you will be given advice about taking action yourself if you wish to do so.

How do we determine if the noise is a statutory nuisance?

There is no fixed level at which noise is considered a nuisance. The assessment of whether noise is a statutory nuisance includes a number of factors to determine how the noise affects your use and enjoyment of your property. The things that are considered include:

• Volume of noise
• Length of time noise continues for
• Frequency of noise
• Time of day (what is acceptable during the day differs from at night)
• The nature of the locality (you expect to hear more noise from neighbours in flats than in a detached house and the norm for a house in the country is different to that in a town)

The test is based overall on what is reasonable for the ordinary person to expect. It does not take into account situations where people sleep during the day and are woken up by reasonable noise from daytime activities. Nor does it take account sensitivity e.g. illness, children needing to sleep etc.

An officer will make this assessment through independent evidence and discuss it with you.

What other action can I take?

In some circumstances the Council may be unable to get sufficient evidence to take action on behalf of an individual who has made a complaint. Should this occur, you can take independent action by complaining directly to the Magistrates' Court under section 82 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990. This is quite simple and need not cost much; you do not need to employ a solicitor, but it is advisable to obtain some legal advice.

Before approaching the court, it is a good idea to write to the noise-maker saying that unless the noise is abated by a certain date (e.g. two weeks) you will complain to the Magistrates' Court. Keep a copy of all correspondence. If the noisemaker ignores either a verbal or written request by you to abate the noise, contact the Justices' Clerk's Office at your local Magistrates' Court, explaining that you wish to make a complaint under section 82 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990.

The Clerk of the Court should be able to advise you further. You must give at least three days notice of your intention to complain to the Magistrates' Court, to the person considered responsible for the noise. The notice should provide details of the complaint and may be delivered by hand or by post. A solicitor can do this for you (a solicitors' letter will show you are serious). You need to prove to the Magistrate, beyond reasonable doubt, that the noise you are complaining about amounts to a nuisance. The diary you keep will be important evidence. Although the law says that only one person needs to be affected for there to be a nuisance, in practice the evidence of other witnesses will strengthen your claim.

A date will be set for the hearing and the person about whom you are complaining will be summoned to Court. You will be required to explain your problem and produce evidence of the disturbance. You will have to give your own evidence and cross-examine your supporting witnesses to draw out their evidence. The neighbour will be able to cross-examine you and your witnesses and may produce their own evidence. A solicitor will help, but you can take action on your own. The law relating to business premises is slightly different: they can defend themselves by proving that they are using the "best practicable means" to prevent the noise.

If you prove your case, the Court will make an order requiring the nuisance to be abated, and/or stop recurrence of the nuisance. It also has the power at the time the nuisance order is made, to impose a fine on the defendant. If this order is ignored, further Court action will need to be taken; you must therefore continue to keep records of noise nuisance in case it is necessary to return to Court. If you fail to prove your case you may have to pay some of the defendant's expenses in coming to Court.

Are there alternatives to legal action?

Noise disputes are often best resolved informally. Your neighbour may be upset if Council or legal action is used before a direct approach has been made by you. It is unpleasant and will inevitably further sour the relationship between you and your neighbour. It is very important that you do your best to resolve any problem in a friendly way. Let you neighbour know of the problem and the way the noise is affecting you. You may want to use mediation to help resolve the issue, in which case, contact Mediation UK on 0117 904 6661 for further information.

Barking dogs

Noise from barking dogs is dealt with in the same way as other domestic noise (music, DIY etc.) as described above. We would look at what reasonable barking was and whether particular case overstepped that mark (eg. barking all day or every night at 2am). Often owners are not aware that their dogs bark when they go out so do tell your neighbour if this is the case.

Commercial noise

Noise from commercial premises is often dealt with in the same way as that from a domestic premises. However, in some cases we may not need to prove a statutory nuisance where the premises holds a public entertainment licence. These licences are issued in order to ensure that the disturbance caused to the general public is kept to a minimum. Action can be taken against a premises that operates outside of its licensing agreement.

Construction sites

Construction sites are a very common source of noise pollution. They are often in areas which were quiet beforehand and therefore the noise generated from their activities is very noticeable. Construction noise is an anticipated part of a development and therefore a restriction on working hours is often prescribed as part of the planning permission. Environmental Services can also deal with noise from construction sites.

Aircraft noise

Aircraft noise is excluded from Part III of the Environmental Protection Act 1990, which means that we have no direct responsibility in relation to noise from aircraft departing or landing.

Street and traffic noise

The Environmental Protection Act does not cover noise from traffic. In some circumstances we may be able to tackle individual vehicle owners who persistently use their radio in an unacceptable way (e.g. a car parked outside your house on a regular basis with its radio on loud).

We are usually able to deal with car alarms where they ring persistently (see section below).

We cannot deal with noise in the street unless it is from a specific piece of machinery or equipment eg. loud speakers.

Car and house alarms

The Environmental Protection Act is used to deal with car and house alarms. Sometimes these malfunction and sound continuously, or intermittently but for a prolonged period.

All alarms should be fitted with a 20 minutes cut off device. In addition, for house alarms there should be 2 key holders (other than the occupants) who live within 20 minutes of the property. You should provide the Council with the details of your key holders.   (Follow the link to the form for this.)   If an alarm does sound wait to see if it cuts after 20 minutes. You may want to contact the police to report a possible break in. If the alarm continues after 20 minutes then contact us on the above number. Outside of normal office hours we provide an emergency service.

The noise from the alarm is assessed to determine if it is a nuisance – we obviously do not use diary sheets in this situation, an officer usually visits to make this determination. The officer has to assess the noise from inside your premises and how you are being effected (e.g. can you sleep?). If there is a statutory noise nuisance then an abatement notice is served and if a key holder or owner cannot be found entry is forced and the alarm disabled. Cars may be towed away. The owner is charged for this work.

Parties

The out of hours emergency service will respond to noisy parties if we receive 3 or more complaints from separate households. If we do not receive this number of complaints we can still investigate (e.g. regular parties affecting only 2 people) using the neighbourhood noise procedures detailed above.

Where we do receive 3 or more complaints for a single party we assess whether a nuisance exists. It is rare that a one off party is a statutory nuisance however, if it is very late at night and/or very loud it may be severe enough to be classed as a statutory nuisance. Again, the ‘reasonable’ test applies. If you are planning a party let your neighbours know well in advance so that they can make arrangements and reduce the volume around 10pm to 11pm. Remember as well as music, noise from guests can be very loud, especially if they are outside.

Fireworks

Dealing with noise from fireworks if difficult. It would be extremely hard to prove that fireworks are causing a nuisance for a number of reasons:-

• They are often short of duration
• It is difficult to know where they are coming from
• For statutory nuisance to apply the noise must be prolonged or repeated. Fireworks are often not
• If the occupiers of the same property repeatedly have fireworks then we may be able to act.

Usually, the problem with fireworks is where lots of different people are letting them off in the streets, this is not something the Council can tackle with noise nuisance legislation.

The Department for Business Enterprise & Regulatory Reform has further information on firework legislation.

Contact Enviromnental Health on tel: 01923 278503 or by email below for advice or information on noise pollution.