Unit 6:  Current Legislation Affecting UK Industry: Atmosphere

6.2.15  Noise and Statutory Nuisance

In the UK, noise contains the largest amount of statute legislation. The legal controls here can be split into:

  1. Pollution legislation.
  2. Planning legislation.
  3. Health and safety legislation.

1. Pollution legislation
The main controls here are Part III of EPA 1990: Statutory Nuisances and Clean Air, and the parts of the Control of Pollution Act (COPA) 1974 (mainly sections 60-73 of Part III) which have not currently been repealed by equal provisions in EPA 1990. The Noise and Statutory Nuisance Act 1993 also controls noise emanating from the street, intruder alarms and loudspeakers and empowers local authorities to recover costs through statutory nuisance abatement.

COPA 1974 has the following main provisions covering noise:
  1. Construction and demolition site noise.
  2. Noise abatement zones (NAZs).
  3. Codes of practice.
  4. The establishment of noise control regulations.
  5. Miscellaneous household and street sources of noise.
Construction and demolition site noise
Under section 60 of COPA 1974, local authorities are given the power to control noise and vibration. They may do this through serving a notice to the person in charge of the site, who will be required to adhere to controls such as the type of machinery and plant used, the hours during which it may operate, the boundary noise levels, in order to decrease the noise through the adoption of BPM. Prior consent can be sought where a contractor is planning future demolition or construction work that may incur a notice, under section 61 of COPA 1974, in order that they may protect themselves against local authority (but not private individual) action, on the premise that BPM can be demonstrated to reduce noise.

Noise abatement zones
Sections 63-67 of COPA 1974 cover the establishment of NAZs to:
  • Protect against ambient creep (gradual increase in noise levels).
  • Halt deterioration in the noise environment.
  • Ensure that improvements are long terms- therefore reducing the noise levels.
Codes of practice
These give best practice guidance on issues such as measurement techniques for noise and the BPM in its abatement. British standard BS5228 deals with noise control on construction and open sites. Other similar codes of practice deal with other noises such as that emitted from ice cream vans, intruder alarms etc. Individuals are not legally bound by such noise although local authorities could use them in showing that the BPM is not being adhered to.

Noise control regulations
Section 68 of COPA 1974 deals with regulations established under the European Communities Act 1972, and are:
  • The Construction Plant and Equipment (Harmonisation of Noise Emission Standards) Regulations 1985.
  • The Lawnmowers (Harmonisation of Noise Emission Standards) regulations 1986.
  • The Household Appliances (Noise Emission) Regulations 1990.
EPA 1990 (section 79) also provides statutory controls for noise pollution for any noise or vibration emitted from a premises and which is prejudicial to health or a nuisance is a statutory nuisance. EPA 1990 charges local authorities with a duty to undertake routine inspections for nuisances and to investigate complaints from those living within the area. Should a complaint be deemed to be a statutory nuisance then the local authority must serve an abatement notice on the person causing the nuisance.


2. Planning legislation
The Town and Country Planning Act 1990 is the main piece of legislation in dealing with noise during the planning process. Some planning policy guidance notes have been published for guidance on noise controls:
  • PPG24: Planning and noise.
  • PPGI: General Policy and Principles.
  • 11/95: The Use of Conditions in Planning Permissions.

3. Health and safety legislation
Noise can also be prejudicial to health. There is a great deal of health and safety legislation that has been developed within then UK which includes many provisions for protection of people against noise. This goes beyond the scope of this module and you should read around this subject- such as in Croner's health and safety publications.


Further Reading
Consult the Summary of relevant legislation for noise.