Noise Pollution
Environmental Health has responsibility for investigating most types of noise problems.
Examples of the types of complaint dealt with include:
- Noise from Construction Work
- Model aircraft noise. For full size aircraft see Aircraft Noise
- Pubs and clubs (entertainment noise)
- Vehicle, house and business alarms
- Noise from businesses, except some large industrial sites, which are regulated by SEPA - Scottish Environment Protection Agency (opens new window) . (In these cases, we will forward any complaint we receive to SEPA, advising the complainant of the action taken)
- Dog Barking and other Animal Noise
- Railway Noise
Other types of noise
Aircraft noise is regulated by the Civil Aviation Authority (opens new window) . However, complaints about aircraft using Edinburgh Airport should be directed to the airport itself. See Aircraft Noise for more information
Neighbour / Household noise complaints are the responsibility of the Safer Neigbourhoods Team which can be contacted on 01506 280000. This team also provides an out of hours emergency noise service.
Wind Turbine noise is rigorously assessed by Environmental Health at the planning stage to avoid noise problems arising. For more information see Noise from Wind Turbines. Enforcement under planning conditions is carried out by Planning Enforcement.
Transport Noise. there are a number of elements to this:
- Noise from individual vehicles. General noise, including from modified engines or exhausts, lies with Police Scotland under the Road Vehicles (Construction and Use) Regulations. Contact Police Scotland (opens new window) . Noise from equipment on vehicles such as refrigerators, ice cream van chimes lies with Environmental Health.
- Noise from general road traffic. Where the noise is caused by a road fault, this should be reported. Management of general noise levels associated with road use is done via the Environmental Noise Directive 2002 (opens new window) . This came into force in the UK in late 2006, when the regional versions of the Environmental Noise Regulations came into force (in Scotland from 05/10/2006 in The Environmental Noise (Scotland) Regulations 2006 (opens new window) ). In Scotland, the competent authority for identifying and mapping noise sources from roads and railways is the Scottish Government. The resulting strategic noise maps can be found at Scottish Government - Noise Mapping (opens new window) .
- Location of new homes near existing transport noise sources is considered at the Planning stage. See Planning Application Consultations for more information.
Designing out Noise
Environmental Health is a statutory consultee on planning applications. Planning Officers will consult Environmental Health where there are potential environmental protection matters relevant to an application. By reviewing and making recommendations on planning applications, potential problems can be identified, prevented or managed with effective planning conditions. See Planning Application Consultations for more information.
