What is a Statutory Nuisance Anyway?!
When assessing the potential for nuisance the investigating officer will need to base his judgement on a number of factors. These include:
• How loud the noise is and how long it lasts
• How intrusive it is
• How frequent the intrusion is
• Whether it is a one-off or continuing problem
• The time of day
• Whether it is deliberate or not
• The nature of the area you live in (e.g. rural or urban)
• What steps the perpetrator has taken to avoid or reduce the nuisance
• The use of the activity causing the noise to the public
Ultimately, a statutory nuisance is a criminal matter and so will exclude matters which present themselves purely as mere irritations or annoyances. To qualify as a nuisance noise the noise should therefore be, both, excessive and unreasonable.
People have varying sensitivities to noise and so it is important that the investigator is able to establish that the personal comfort and quality of life of the victim is being interfered with and that they are not unduly sensitive.
In addition, the vast majority of cases that are presented to the local authority are ongoing issues (rather than one-off issues) where a state of affairs exists.
We have much more information detailing what is a statutory nuisance in our tutorial along with hundreds of other resources.
Noise Nuisance 