Before the Council can take a legal action on anyone’s behalf, it must be satisfied that a ‘Statutory Nuisance’ exists and that evidence (suitable for a Court) has been gathered to support the case. In most cases, the following procedure will be followed:
• You will be asked to keep an accurate diary, detailing when the noise occurs and how the this affects you.
• This will then be reviewed by an Environmental Protection Officer and should it believed that a Statutory Nuisance may be occurring additional resources will be made available to you such as:
- Access to the Noise App
- Officer visits
- Noise monitoring equipment installed in your home.
• If a Statutory Nuisance is found to exist, an ‘Abatement Notice’ will be served requesting the noise cease.
• If the nuisance continues and evidence is gathered that the Notice has not been complied with the Council can:
- Apply for a warrant to the Magistrates Court in order to seize equipment used to produce the noise nuisance
and/or
- Summons the offender to appear at Magistrate’s Court where a fine may be imposed if found guilty
There are some occasions where the we are unable to take action, particularly where the noise occurs intermittently and is not judged to be a Statutory Nuisance. If the we decide that formal action cannot be taken you will be informed and given advice about taking action yourself if you wish to do so.
Find our more about take your own private action.
Please note where action is the responsibility of another agency we may signpost you to the correct authority, department or organisation.
We have provided below a range of template letters to enable you to express clearly to the person creating a noise problem exactly what you are complaining about, the effect it has on you and what you would like them to do about it. You can use these letters either as a guide to writing your own letter, or as a template.
Remember to keep a copy of any letter you send.