Making a complaint
If an informal approach does not work, or is not possible, and you wish to complain to Environmental Health, then you can use the link at the bottom of this section to report a noise nuisance.
We will then ask you to complete diary sheets (which we can send to you, or you can download from this page) for a minimum of 14 days. Completed diary sheets are an important part of the investigation and can be used as evidence in any formal action that might be taken.
Please read the instructions on the diary sheets carefully. It is important that you provide enough information in the diary sheets for the investigating officer to make an assessment of statutory nuisance. Without enough information in the diary sheets, we may not be able to investigate your complaint further.
Once you have reported a noise nuisance to Environmental Health, completed diary sheets can be returned via email to environmentalhealth@wirral.gov.uk or by post to:
Environmental Health
Wirral Council
PO Box 290
Brighton Street
Wallasey
CH27 9FQ
We would encourage you to return the diary sheets by email. It may also be advisable for you to keep a copy of the diary sheets for your own records.
If following your complaint you do not return your diary sheets within 6 weeks, we will be unable to progress your complaint and your case will be closed.
The PDF file may not be suitable to view for people with disabilities, users of assistive technology or mobile phone devices.
What happens once your diary sheets are returned to the council?
Once we receive your completed diary sheets your complaint will be allocated to an officer. The officer will carry out an assessment of your diary sheets to see if the noise disturbances indicate that a statutory nuisance may exist.
If the diary sheets demonstrate that a statutory nuisance may exist, the officer will then look to further investigate. In most cases we will write to the person causing the noise, providing general advice, and giving them the opportunity to reduce the noise disturbances. In many cases this will resolve the problem. We will let you know when we have written. If you don’t contact us within six weeks to advise the noise disturbances are continuing, we will assume the warning letter has been effective and your case will be closed.
If the noise disturbances continue, the officer will need to witness the noise disturbances by undertaking some form of monitoring.
Monitoring can be undertaken by officers visiting your property, both internally and externally, and by using noise monitoring equipment installed in your property. Which type of monitoring will be used will be determined on a case-by-case basis and may consist of a combination of the different monitoring types.
Officers will use your diary sheets to help determine the type of monitoring that is most suitable and the best times in which carry it out. In most cases officers will only undertake a maximum of up to three monitoring visits, in an attempt to witness the noise disturbances.
What happens after monitoring?
An officer will assess all the information collected as part of the monitoring and throughout the investigation of your complaint.
If in the officer’s professional opinion, a statutory nuisance is established they will serve a Noise Abatement Notice on the person causing or responsible for the noise, requiring them to abate the noise.
At any stage during the investigation, if in the officer’s professional opinion, they determine that a statutory nuisance does not or is unlikely to exist, we will advise you.
What if the officers decide that the noise is not a Statutory Nuisance?
You can take your own private action via the Magistrates Court under Section 82 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990. This process can be carried out without legal advice, but we would advise you to speak to a solicitor. If you wish to consider this route, there are a number of key stages that you will need to follow including:
- write to the source causing the noise, informing them of the type of disturbance you are suffering and that you intend to seek legal advice if the disturbance continues.
- keep a record of evidence to show; a description of the nuisance; when it occurs; how long it lasts and how it affects you, for example, diary sheets
- write to the source causing the noise, giving them at least three days notice of your intention to proceed to the Magistrates Court
- contact the Clerk to the Justice at the Magistrates Court who will arrange a time for you to visit the court to show the evidence to a Magistrate
- the Magistrate Court decides what action can be taken