Noise
We hope you find the information here useful and
informative. Our aim is to help maintain a safe, healthy
noise environment for all those living or working in Harlow.
Environmental Health Services provide a wide range of services in
respect of noise and employ highly qualified officers with specific
expertise in this area.
There is no such thing as total silence in this world, other
than specifically built soundproof rooms and wherever you live you
will always be able to hear some kind of background noise.
Instrument for measuring noise
Noise is often defined as ‘unwanted sound’. What constitutes
‘Noise’ is a very personal matter; one person’s favourite music
might well be another person’s unwanted sound. We usually become
involved in noise matters when a complaint is received. We then
have a duty to investigate and have to decide if any action is
possible. We try to resolve noise complaints informally if
possible, but have legal powers to take formal action if necessary
in many cases.
There are many different types of noise that affect us but the
Council is not able to deal with them all. We are, for example,
able to deal with matters such as excessively loud music played for
prolonged periods, unreasonable noise from commercial or industrial
premises and burglar alarms sounding for long periods.
Unfortunately we cannot deal with others such as babies crying,
people arguing, children playing, slamming doors, occasional dog
barking, footsteps on stairs and other ‘normal’ domestic activities
& day-to-day living sounds.
For more information on specific noise problems, please
click the appropriate menu item on the left.