'Lock up' too-noisy neighbours
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Your support makes all the difference.Simon Hughes has criticised government 'silence' on action against noisy neighbours, calling for stricter measures to help victims. The Liberal Democrat MP for Southwark and Bermondsey and the party's spokesman on community and urban affairs, said: 'The message is simple if the rowdies don't shut up they should be locked up.'
He was commenting on yesterday's announcement by environment minister Robert Atkins of a new initiative to identify better remedies for resolving noise problems.
'The Government's idea of action against noise pollution is to set up a working party. The police have very few powers and local councils do not have enough resources to enforce what restrictions exist.'
What was needed was a system where 'independent verification of noise is enough for criminal proceedings to begin rather than the noise victim having to pursue a civil case themselves'. According to Southwark council, the maximum penalty for noise nuisances can be pounds 5,000 if people fail to obey noise abatement notices served by local authorities but complainants can wait nine months to get to court. Fines can reach pounds 20,000 if offending premises are of a commercial nature, such as a nightclub.
Latest figures from Southwark council showed that 1,047 domestic noise complaints were made between April and July, 394 more than the same period last year.
The authority said yesterday that one reason was the good summer. However, for the first time the borough had sent out noise patrols and as people became more aware of them, they felt more encouraged to complain.
Simon Hughes said: 'A frail pensioner living next door to a 6ft muscular young man who insists on holding all-night parties every night is going to think twice about having to take this man through the courts if it means being identified as the person who grassed him up.'
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