Report noise disturbance

A certain amount of noise is normal:

  • If you live in a home which is connected to or close to another building or dwelling, you may hear your neighbour and those close to you at times. They will also hear you.
  • Dogs can sometimes bark, this is normal
  • Building or other works may cause some noise for a period of time. They are often allowed to do so by their planning consent.
  • Business will generate noise in the normal course of their activity. This may be allowed or limited by planning or other consents. 
  • Pubs and clubs may be allowed to play music late at night. This will be controlled by their premises licence and planning consents.

However, if an excessive amount of noise is heard between the hours of 11.00pm and 7.00am, we may be able to help in certain cases.

Noise types we cannot deal with

There are certain types of noise that we are unable to deal with under any circumstances, these include:

  • general environmental noise, without a clear source
  • noise from children playing
  • noise from normal daily activities such as footfall, or doors slamming
  • road or aircraft noise

Noisy, one-off disturbances such as a loud party, or music coming from a licensed event, can be reported on our 24 hour number 01793 445500. We can advise you what to do and can access out of hours services in the most serious cases if necessary.

In all cases we will expect you to have tried to deal with the issue yourself. You can do this by speaking to or writing to the person or business involved. We will also expect you to complete diary sheets and a statement before we consider the case. This will ensure we have a good understanding of the problem.

The information pack to help you, is available to download below. The pack contains a leaflet on noise and a pro-forma note to help you start your conversation with your neighbour. It also contains the diary sheets which we need you to complete and upload before we can consider the complaint. 

We will copy parts of the information you supply in your diary sheets to the person or business you say is disturbing you. In certain situations, your case will be given to an Environmental Health Officer. We may also need to use noise monitoring and recording equipment that we will put in your home. 

In a small number of the worst cases, we can serve a formal ‘abatement’ notice, take equipment and/or prosecute the person or business. However, this may take a number of weeks or months to complete.

Report a noise nuisance online

If you have already tried to deal with an issue with the person or business and you have completed diary sheets for a period of three weeks, complete the following form and upload your completed documents.

If you have provided a completed diary sheet pack and confirmed that you have attempted to resolve the issue with your neighbour directly, we will be in touch within five working days. 

If you do not upload the required documents, you will be automatically reminded to do so after three weeks. Your case will close after six weeks if we do not hear from you with completed documents.

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