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Noise pollution

Environmental noise is ever present in a busy city such as Portsmouth.  The function of the Public Protection Service is not to ensure peace and quiet or prevent occasional disturbance from noise.

Our primary functions are to prevent or mitigate serious or persistently unacceptable levels of environmental noise.  This we achieve through the enforcement of a range of legislation.   The main types of environmental noise that we regulate are:

• alarms from premises and vehicles
• amplified music from pubs and clubs
• animal noise
• commercial noise, such as from deliveries
• construction and demolition site noise
• industrial noise
• noise from domestic premises

Over 1500 noise complaints are received each year, the vast majority from residents who are suffering noise problems from their neighbours.

Often problems happen outside normal working hours and for that reason we operate a night noise service which runs:

• Sunday - 7pm to 2.30am
• Monday to Thursday - 6pm to 2am
• Friday and Saturday - 7pm to 3am

Just call us on (023) 9283 4167.

We deal with complaints about noise whether the source is residential, industrial or commercial. Nuisance caused from smoke and smells from bonfires or industrial processes are also investigated.

We do not regulate noise from aircraft, road traffic noise, or from people in public places. For some types of problem, particularly domestic noise, it can be best to try negotiating an improvement with the person causing the noise first. You may wish to seek the help of the Portsmouth Mediation Service with this.

For information about how to deal with complaints about aircraft noise, please use the external link. Complaints about noise from people in the street should be referred to the police.

In addition to our regulatory role we seek to inform and advise other parts of the council to ensure that the protection of the acoustic environment of the city is considered in all other decision making processes. A copy of our Noise Enforcement Policy can be found below.

Associated documents:

• Portsmouth Noise Enforcement Policy  (0.12 MB)

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