Noise Complaints

 

The investigation of a noise nuisance takes place in four stages

 

After reporting your complaint to the Pollution Control team a nuisance log sheet normally needs to be completed. This should then be returned after two weeks or other appropriate period depending on the nature of the nuisance. You will be asked to confirm your willingness to provide a witness statement and give evidence in Court. It is essential that the log is accurate with regard to the dates and times and duration of the nuisance.

 

 

  

The alleged perpetrator of the nuisance will be contacted to be advised of the complaint.  At this stage your details will be treated as confidential.

 

With receipt of a nuisance log the complaint will generally proceed to Stage 2. At this stage you are requested to continue with the log of nuisances, as this is imperative to the successful investigation of nuisance. For nuisances that occur during office hours you should ring the department and an officer will endeavour to witness it during these periods.  For nuisances that occur solely outside office hours, you should contact the investigating officer to discuss alternative arrangements. If in the officers' opinion, no nuisance has been witnessed in 3 visits, the Council may decide that it is unable to effectively proceed with investigating the complaint. In this case you will be sent a letter advising to this effect, but also including details on how to take your own action.

 

If the officer is satisfied of the existence of a statutory nuisance during the investigation the complaint will move onto Stage 3. At this stage you will be required to produce a witness statement and should be prepared to give live evidence in Court.  An Abatement Notice will usually be served on completion of this stage of the investigation. The abatement notice will specify the location in which the nuisance has been witnessed by the investigating officer. You should be aware that the person served with the notice has a right of appeal to the courts.

 

At this stage you should inform the investigating officer of any possible breaches of the notice, and maintain the nuisance log.  If further complaints are received the recipient of the notice shall be advised of  their obligations with regard to the notice.  Further complaints will be investigated and monitored where practicable, with a view to enforcing the requirements of the notice.

 

The service in Peterborough is not a 24 hours 7 days a week response service.  For noise concerns outside of office hours, a range of approaches are deployed to investigate nuisances, including programmed inspections, the use of monitoring equipment, and on-call officers being available for specific circumstances and events.