Surge in complaints against noisy neighbours

Figures obtained under the Freedom of Information Act show that problems with rowdy behaviour have forced almost 8,000 residents to make calls to Leeds City Council during the night since September 2011.

An out-of-hours service, established last year for people in Leeds who are “at their wit’s end” has seen a huge surge in the number of calls, with more and more residents refusing to suffer in silence.

The figures show that 7,799 calls have been made to the out-of-hours team since September 2011.

And 6,898 were logged with the council’s Environmental Protection team working through the day during the same period.

In the same period last year, 7,276 calls were logged in total, before an out-of-hours service had been established.

Responding to the figures, 
the chairman of the Safer Leeds Partnership, Coun Peter Gruen, said: “Evidence shows that 
many of the noise complaints 
we receive – day and night – 
are one-off incidents that 
could be easily avoided if 
people took a little time to consider the consequences of their actions.

“However, where people fail to take a more neighbourly attitude and cause communities to suffer with repeated incidents, we can and will step in to stop excess noise making people’s lives a misery.

“We recently re-organised how our noise nuisance team operates, with noise nuisance staff now embedded within the multi-agency Leeds Anti-Social Behaviour Team and able to provide a joined-up response that considers the full anti-social impact of noise nuisance.

“The night-time service is an emergency service for people who are at their wit’s end with rowdy or noisy behaviour.”

According to the council, loud music is the reason residents most often complained, accounting for 70 per cent of calls.