The Noise App has been designed to simplify noise reporting and investigation.
Since it was launched in 2015, the app has processed more than 50,000 noise reports and is used by 100-plus organisations including police forces, councils, housing associations and construction companies.
It's now hoped the app "could help freight operators build better relationships with local residents".
Because it is hassle free, with no expensive or specialist equipment needed, it is popular with residents and the professionals investigating noise problems.
It is another one of the "publicly-funded apps helping to streamline services, save money and make citizens’ lives easier". One council says the Noise App "has revolutionised how we deal with noise nuisance cases". You can understand why. As another council using the Noise App said, in an article describing how a couple were fined £18,000 after complaints about noise:
If a complaint is made to the council, we have a duty to investigate it, and wherever possible we try to resolve the issue amicably.
As we posted in Noise, dust, statutory nuisance, the leaflet produced for Buckfastleigh Town Council - in response to complaints about Whitecleave Quarry - clarifies the law on noise:
Local authorities have a wide range of legal powers to act against noise. They have a duty to deal with any noise they consider to be a ‘statutory nuisance’. You have a right to request monitoring at your property or other location where noise affects you.
There is no specific decibel level or limit to determine nuisance. If it is found to be 'statutory nuisance' the authority must serve an abatement notice – which is an order to deal with the nuisance. This order may demand the noise stops altogether.
A quarry in Cornwall was served such an abatement notice last year. The same article in which this was reported gives examples of How loud is loud?
