Dealing with noise problems

Statutory Noise Nuisance is noise that significantly interferes with the enjoyment of your home. It has to be unreasonable and persistent, but there is no set level.

Statutory noise complaints include:

• loud TVs and stereos
• pubs and clubs
• construction and demolition work
• noisy animals
• car and house alarms
• noisy neighbours
• open air events
• places of worship
• Industrial noise from a business
   

Reporting a noise complaint

During office hours, please call the Environmental Health team on 01707 357 242 or email e.health@welhat.gov.uk.

Unfortunately, due to the risk to both officers and members of the public from the potential transmission of covid 19 the out of hours noise service has been suspended until further notice. This is under regular review.

If you are disturbed by noise please contact the Environmental Health team during office hours and we will discuss with you what options are available to resolve the problem.

Wherever, safe to do so, we do recommend that people try to talk to their neighbours and politely let them know there is an issue.

If this is not appropriate or successful, we will write to all those concerned and explain the need for both tolerance and neighbourly respect. No names are shared. You will be asked to keep a diary of incidents that disturb you so we can gain an idea of how often this takes place and how it impacts you and your household.

If you have a smart phone you can use the Noise App to contact us when you are disturbed.

In most cases those causing a problem are not aware of the impacts of their actions and they stop once they have received our letter. If this does not happen we can arrange for noise monitoring equipment to be installed to gather evidence. If the noise occurs during the day, wherever possible an officer will attend to witness the noise.

When we have tangible evidence we can take more formal action in those more persistent cases.

We aim to give you support and guidance throughout the process and ensure the service is accessible if you have any specific needs.

We work in partnership with our colleagues in Housing, the  Anti-Social Behaviour team, Street  Wardens and with other agencies through the Community Safety Partnership. This means we share information so together we can tackle all types of problem behaviour.