Response 3842348

Response to request for information

Reference

3842348

Response date

6 November 2025

Request

Please could you supply your answer in the form of a simple Excel document where the first column gives the question number and the subsequent column(s) provides the answer(s) to the corresponding question and as indicated.

1. Your name
2. Your email
3. For which local authority or shared service are you submitting data?
4. Which region is your local authority in?
5. What is the total number of noise complaints your LA received during the period 1st October 2024 to 30th September 2025?
6. Within the total number of noise complaints received can you clarify how many were/are: 
   1. Resolved without further contact other than issue of standard notification, e.g. issue of standard letters, diary sheets or initial verbal advice.
   2. Resolved through informal action e.g. telephone call letter(s), site meeting(s) etc.
   3. Require formal action e.g. Abatement notice, Community Protection Warning, Closure Order, Planning intervention, Control of Pollution Act 1974 notice etc.
   4. Ongoing complaints awaiting resolution.
   5. Resolved following prosecution.
   6. Duplicate/invalid complaints.

Please answer to the best of your ability. If you do not record this information as individual codes on your database, please answer as ‘Information not recorded’.

7. Please indicate the total number for each of the actions listed below during the period 1st October 2024 to 30th September 2025 * :
   • Environmental Protection Act 1990
   • Abatement notice (for any noise related nuisance) Environmental Protection Act 1990
   • Prosecution for failure to comply with requirements of Section 80 abatement notice Environmental Protection Act 1990
   • Works in default e.g. seizure of equipment
   • Anti-social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014 Community Protection Notice – Noise
   • Control of Pollution Act 1974
   • Section 60/61 Notice – Construction Noise
   • Control of Pollution Act 1974
   • Section 62 Notice - Loudspeakers in streets
   • Clean Neighbourhoods & Environment Act 2005 Section 77 - Silencing of Intruder Alarms
   • Licensing Act 2003
   • Formal review process associated with the Licence Condition
   • Town & Country Planning Act 1990 – Advice provided, conditions sought, enforcement visit
   • Noise Act 1996 – Any use

8. Do you use the Noise App or any other kind of app-based technology as part of your service for service users to submit evidence? Yes  /  No

If so, how many different users were recorded in the period 1st October 2024 – 30th September 2025?

9. Does your LA record a breakdown of noise complaints by noise source?   Yes / No

If yes, please provide by way of screenshots or other means your breakdown of noise complaints by noise source.

10. If you were to receive a complaint about noise from an air source heat pump installed at a domestic premises, into which of the codes/categories existing within your database would the complaint fall?
11. How many noise complaints relating to the following potential sources of noise nuisance has your local authority received between 1st October 2024 and 30th September 2025?
    • Wind turbine(s)
    • House alleged or proven to have been rented out as a short term let or a holiday let e.g. Air BNB
    • Air Source Heat Pump (ASHP)
    • Domestic battery storage
    • Short Term Operating Reserve (STOR) generators
12. If applicable, how many noise complaints relating to air source heat pumps (ASHP) installed at domestic properties that were received between 1st October 2024 and 30th September 2025 has of today been found to be justified following investigation?
13. What was/were the main cause or causes of the interference in justified complaints relating to air source heat pumps between 1st October 2024 and 30th September 2025?
14. Does your current database provide the functionality to create new codes to reflect the introduction of newer sources of complaint like the above in Q11? Yes / No
15. If an officer was to be investigating a complaint about an Air Source Heat Pump, what guidance apart from the IoA/CIEH (2022) guidance would your officers refer to?  Please either specify “No other guidance” or identify other guidance.
16. What is the total Full Time Equivalent (FTE) capacity allocated to working on noise and nuisance complaints at your Local Authority?

Full-Time Equivalent (FTE) = Total hours worked by Part-Time and Full-Time Employees ÷ Number of available Full-Time hours in year

17. Please provide the hourly rates for the 2024/2025 financial year for all of the different grades of Officers who may be involved in a prosecution under any of the legislation listed in question 7.
18. Please can you supply an anonymised or template copy of the authorisation granted to officers who routinely deal with nuisances so that we can identify the breadth of scope of the legislation you utilise.
19. What means do you use to try to prevent noise nuisance complaints or situations from escalating? Please tick all that apply or specify where not already listed:
    1. Involvement in Licensing Act 2003 process(es) to identify and design out problems
    2. Involvement in planning permission process(es) to identify and design out problems (Town & Country Planning Act)
    3. Use of either in-house or third-party mediation service(s)
    4. Other – please specify
20. Do you operate a noise investigation service that operates out of normal office hours/overnight?
    • • Yes
      • No

If yes, please share a hyperlink that describes the hours of operation and what the service entails.

21. This year, we are hoping to gather case studies of successful interventions to give the final report more impact and to explain the great work being done by Environmental Health teams.

Would you be happy for us to contact you with further questions about your prosecutions or project work in relation to noise?

22. Is there anything else you would like to add to your submission?

Response

The information requested is contained in the response spreadsheet.