How do I contact the noise patrol?

How do I contact the noise patrol?

If you need to contact the noise patrol out of hours, call 020 7527 3229. You will need to leave your name, address and number

You will also need to provide accurate detail regarding the nature, location and times of the noise nuisance . The noise patrol officer will then call you back for further information as required.

You can also send an e-mail to noise.issues@islington.gov.uk, but this mailbox is only accessed during normal working hours 9am to 5pm, Monday to Friday. Complaints about noise can be reported during normal office hours by telephoning the Noise Team at Public Protection on 020 7527 3258

What We Can and Cannot Do

What We Can Do

When we establish a noise nuisance and where it is safe to do so, Noise Service staff will approach those responsible for the source of the noise. We will request that the noise be reduced. This is usually our first course of action and for non-recurring noises this is often enough to resolve the problem.

Where the noise is more persistent in nature or if the initial request to reduce the noise goes unheeded, the council will then normally issue a legal abatement notice requiring the person responsible to reduce the noise.

An abatement notice is a formal legal document which notifies the recipient of the problem and puts them on notice that if the problem continues, one or more of the following may result:

• prosecution of the person responsible for not complying with the abatement notice, with fines of up to £5,000 for domestic premises and £20,000 for commercial premises
• seizure of noise making equipment, under a magistrate's warrant where necessary
• in the case of intruder alarms the council may enter the premises, under a magistrate's warrant where necessary, and silence the alarm
• in the case of car alarms, the council may enter the vehicle and silence the alarm

On conviction for not complying with the abatement notice, the council may request that the court make a forfeiture order permanently depriving the owner of any seized noise-making equipment.

Where noise nuisance is established as coming from council housing, the Noise Service can provide evidence for the housing managers to take action against tenants for breach of the tenancy agreement, this can result in the tenant and their household being evicted.

Where noise nuisance is established as coming from a licensed premises the Noise Service can object to further renewal of the licence.

What We Cannot Do

The council cannot take action on noise based solely on complaints. We have to independently establish, by staff witnessing the noise or other methods, that the problem noise is a legal nuisance.

We will not contact alleged perpetrators of noise nuisance unless the existence of a noise nuisance has been established.

We cannot treat all noise as being a nuisance. The law does not give an absolute right to peace and quiet. For a noise to be a legal nuisance it must have a material harmful impact on the normal, reasonable use of premises. It is not enough that the noise merely irritates someone or if the noise is harming an unusually sensitive activity, for the noise to be a legal nuisance.

Where the council does not own the premises where the noise is coming from, the council can not ask the courts to evict the occupiers for causing noise nuisance.

In some cases despite all efforts, the council will not be able to establish that the noise causing the problem is a nuisance. In these cases individuals can take their own action for noise nuisance via the magistrate's courts, under section 82 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990. We can provide information on how to do this on request.

Contact

Noise Service
Public Protection Division
Islington Council
222 Upper Street
London N1 1XR

Email: noise.issues@islington.gov.uk

Tel: 020 7527 3258 (office hours)
Tel: 020 7527 3229 (night hours: 8pm - 2am Sunday to Thursday, 10pm - 4am Friday and Saturday)
Fax: 020 7527 3057

http://www.islington.gov.uk/Environment/sustainability/sus_pollute/noise_pollution/707.asp