Councils are often the first port of call for people who are suffering due to excessive noise.
A survey carried out by MORI on behalf of the charity Environmental Protection UK found that one in ten people are bothered, annoyed or disturbed by noise from pubs, clubs or entertainment venues.
Environmental protection officers have for many years used the statutory nuisance provisions within the Environmental Protection Act 1990 to tackle noisy pubs and clubs.They now have a new power to deal with night-time noise from licensed premises thanks to extension of the Noise Act 1996, which gives councils extra flexibility to take the most appropriate action.
If a complaint is received, the council is under a duty to investigate if they think it might be a statutory nuisance.If the complaint is made between 11pm until 7am, councils can also decide to investigate whether the noise is exceeding the ‘permitted level’.The level of noise allowed is set by central government and takes into account the background noise levels.
Councils still have a duty to act if they consider a statutory nuisance to exist; however, they can now defer serving an abatement notice for up to seven days.Councils may wish to utilise this deferral period to serve a warning notice under the Noise Act 1996 if they consider that the noise level exceeds, or might exceed the permitted level, if measured from the home of the person complaining.
The notice includes a warning that the responsible person may be guilty of an offence if they create noise that exceeds the allowed level within the time period specified in the notice. Not complying with a warning notice is an offence.When an offence is committed by a licensed premises, the council can choose to issue a fixed penalty notice of £500, or bring a prosecution depending on the circumstances.A successful prosecution could result in a fine of up to £5,000.
In addition to noise coming from the premises itself, smokefree legislation has created another problem.Some councils have seen a rise in noise complaints because of people congregating on the street outside premises.Public highways are not considered to be part of the premises and so action is unlikely to be taken using statutory nuisance or the Noise Act.
LACORS and the Chartered Institute of Environmental Health (CIEH) have jointly produced guidance to help councils tackle this problem.The guidance explains how environmental protection officers can use the licensing regime if they think that the public nuisance objective of the Licensing Act 2003 might be breached.An example might be imposing conditions on the licence, such as not allowing drinks to be taken outside or requiring door supervisors.
The guidance also provides information on councils’ powers to tackle anti-social behaviour and public disorder offences and how to work with the police, where necessary.
As well as using these powers, councils may want to use ‘softer’ measures to engage licensees in addressing the problem.The guidance sets out details of Mendip Council’s noise management plan as an example.
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