Reporting nuisances

Complaining about an ongoing nuisance

If you make a complaint to us about an issue with a neighbour or a business we will contact you to discuss how we can help, usually within three working days.

We will ask you to keep a diary of when you are disturbed by the issue you have complained about, and to describe how it affects you. This allows us to see whether the issue is likely to be causing a “[statutory nuisance]”, and if we will be able to help you resolve it.

In almost all cases informal action will lead to an improvement in the situation. In a small number of cases there may be no improvement, or things may get worse. If necessary we may need to consider legal action. Our investigation process is designed to enable legal action if required.

If legal action is to be taken it is necessary to have evidence upon which to base a case and you may be asked to provide further information and/or act as a witness giving evidence in court. Recording full details of the nuisance and how the nuisance actually affects you is an important part of this evidence. If diary sheets are submitted without full details this may delay our investigation.

If you have an open case please contact your case officer. If you resubmit another form this may delay our investigation.

Out of Hours help

We offer a limited weekend Out of Hours service for noise and smoke complaints. The service is provided from 4:45pm on Friday until 1:00am on Monday, and we can only provide a response to persistent or excessive issues during this time.

To contact our Out of Hours service, please call 01923 226400. (Please note that using this number to report matters not covered by our Out of Hours service will not result in you receiving a quicker service.)

To make a complaint, you can do this by looking at the types of nuisances you can report and follow the guidance there, or use our nuisance report form.

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