Kirklees Council noise-busters celebrate

Nov 24 2009 Huddersfield Daily Examiner

THE noisebusters are celebrating at the double.

Kirklees Council’s night time noise service is celebrating its fifth anniversary this month.

And the service has scooped a national award for its efforts to improve the lot of residents by tackling noisy neighbours.

The team provide a fast response to Kirklees residents who are troubled by noise at night and they have dealt with more than 8,400 requests for help since being formed.

Over the years there has been a 60% increase in the number of noise complaints and a typical weekend will see the service responding to around 40 calls.

Most of the complaints dealt with are about noisy neighbours playing loud music or having noisy parties.

There has been a noticeable increase in people choosing to entertain at home and the availability of more affordable – but more powerful – stereo equipment has led to more noise complaints being made to the service.

Complaints are also made about entertainment premises such as pubs and nightclubs and the service also deals with a wide range of other issues such as barking dogs, burglar alarms, noise in streets, fireworks and illegal burning.

Kirklees Council Leader Clr Mehboob Khan is to go out overnight with the noise team on Saturday to see the challenges they face.

He said: “I am very aware of the problems caused by people persistently playing music too loud and will probably witness this first hand on Saturday night.