Who do I complain to?
If you want to make a complaint about noise, you should contact your district council - usually the environmental health department. The number will be in your telephone directory.
What is a noise nuisance?
Noise is a subjective thing, and different people react to it in different ways. What can cause annoyance to one person may be barely noticeable to another. A noise may be irritating but it may not necessarily be a nuisance in the legal sense. There is no fixed level of noise which constitutes a nuisance. Individual circumstances differ and each case needs to be judged on its merits. In deciding whether or not a noise is sufficient to amount to a statutory nuisance, an environmental health officer has to consider what would be the likely reaction of the average, reasonable person to the noise, taking into account not only its loudness, but also such factors as when, how often and for how long the noise occurs.
Where some types of noise complaint are concerned, eg those involving noisy neighbours, the district council may not always be able to act. Remember that it must be satisfied that the noise amounts to a statutory nuisance. In the case of domestic noise the environmental health officer might have to make several visits if a case is to be established.