Loud music and barking dogs cause neighbours most distress

Loud music accounted for 667 of the 1,885 nuisance noise complaints to East Riding Council last year, followed by barking dogs (472); "people" (182); the operation of machinery or other industrial noise (164); and alarms (75).

Aside from barking dogs, the rest of the animal population was also found to be often louder than many residents would want, with noise from other animals and birds causing 53 separate complaints to County Hall. Agriculture was responsible for 45 complaints, with the other main offenders being sports and leisure activities (33); TV and radio (27); and DIY (24).

There were five complaints about fireworks, four concerning vehicle repairs, two about aircraft, and one under the heading "railway".

A report on noise nuisance to the council's Safer and Stronger Communities Overview and Scrutiny Committee next Thursday shows that the cost of policing noise in the county, largely carried out by its environmental control team and dog wardens, is about 230,000 a year.

Most cases are resolved amicably between both parties, but the last year also saw 22 noise abatement notices served, four seizures of equipment, one alarm being silenced under warrant, one offender being given a caution, and one prosecution for breach of notice.

The report said having a noisy neighbour is a serious matter can be "very distressing", but it shows that tackling the problem is one of the most difficult issues enforcement officers face as there is no universal standard in England and Wales for what constitutes a noise offence.

The most serious cases are therefore measured against common law and case law, which has been refined over centuries, although it can still be a grey area.

The report, by Nigel Leighton, director of environment and neighbourhood services, said: "Clients will often complain about noise issues which annoy them but may not be unreasonable given the normal activities a family or business conducts, for example, the sounds of children playing in their gardens, especially during the longer holidays, barbecues and parties.

"Similarly, complaints about sounds that are audible to the client, but are not loud and intrusive, may annoy them but do not constitute a statutory nuisance."

Incidents often occur outside normal working hours and to respond to this the council has an emergency out-of-hours service, and can supply complainants with recording equipment, although its availability is limited.

Gathering and assessing evidence can be time consuming, and figures for 2008/09 show that although 442 cases were resolved within 30 days, 164 incidents took more than 120 days before a settlement was reached.

The report said: "The process to investigate a complaint, gather evidence, serve an abatement notice and taken enforcement action can take a long time.

"This can be frustrating for those people affected by a noise nuisance."

It concludes: "The investigation of noise nuisance complaints can be complex and prolonged. However, the vast majority of cases are resolved informally without recourse to legal action.

"The service deals with a lot of cases and officers provide a great deal of advice to both clients and alleged perpetrators.

"It is pleasing given the complexity of noise nuisance that customer satisfaction remains high, at 85 per cent."