Sound is essential to our daily lives, but noise is not - noise can
be defined as unwanted sound. It is a source of irritation and stress
for many people and can even damage our hearing if it is loud enough.
Many of us are exposed to stressful levels of noise at home and at work.
A noise nuisance is often difficult to establish but, generally speaking,
if something is unreasonable to the average person, a court might decide
it is a statutory nuisance. Noise nuisance is covered by Part III of
the Environmental Protection Act 1990(EPA). This law empowers local
authorities to deal with noise from fixed premises (including land)
if they consider that the noise amounts to a statutory nuisance. Proceedings
may be taken against noise from factories, shops, pubs, dwellings and
stationary vehicles.
The Noise and Statutory Nuisance Act 1993 makes noise in the
street a statutory nuisance. Traffic noise, noise made by military forces,
or from campaigning demonstrations is excluded.
The HPS website provides access to information on a wide range of subjects
contained within our extensive knowledge base.
Use the links below to browse information for this particular subject area:
Back |
Print this Page
| 
Back to Top