Council report massive ‘volume reduction’ in noise complaints
Complaints about animal noise were the most common.
WHILE the rest of Northern Ireland appears to be getting louder, it seems that the volume in the borough may be getting turned down as Ballymena Borough Council experienced the most significant reduction in noise complaints received over the past twelve months.
A total of 12,193 complaints were received by district councils during the period April 2011 to March 2012, compared with 11,585 the previous year. This is a 5.25% increase.
However in Ballymena, there was a 28.07% reduction in the amount of noise complaints made to the council, this was the largest reduction out of all councils.
A total of 164 complaints were made during the past twelve months which is a considerable reduction from the same period the year before.
It appears the biggest noise problem in Ballymena comes from dogs barking as there was 79 complaints made about animal noise.
The figures were revealed in Department’s report, Noise Complaint Statistics for Northern Ireland 2011/2012, which was published last week.
The report finds that domestic noise accounted for 85.2% of all complaints made in Northern Ireland between April 2011 and March 2012. The domestic noise sources most complained about were loud music, television or parties which accounted for 48.7% of domestic noise complaints this year.
Alex Attwood said: “Noise is an issue which I take very seriously. There is no doubt that nuisance noise can badly affect people’s health and well being, children particularly. To this end, I want to see less noise and more peace of mind.
“As with previous years, domestic noise is the major culprit and this is something that can, in the main, be avoided, especially those complaints relating to loud music/televisions and parties. This is one of the reasons that the Clean Neighbourhoods and Environment Act (Northern Ireland) 2011 was enacted. It gives district councils greater powers to deal with noise from domestic premises at night, and I strongly urge all district councils to make full use of all the powers available to them to deal with persistent offenders.”
The report also highlights initiatives that councils have adopted in an effort to raise awareness of noise issues and ensure that noise remains high on the public’s agenda.
The most significant increases in noise complaints were experienced by Moyle District Council (38.10%), Ards Borough Council (16.67%), Castlereagh Borough Council (16.67%), Omagh District Council (15.34%) and Belfast City Council (15.32%).
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Sunday 19 May 2013
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