Industrial noise

Noise from machinery causes many complaints.  These range from power tools used in vehicle repair shops, reversing alarms on forklifts to air conditioning and extraction ducts, which are now common on offices, shops, restaurants, takeaways, and other commercial buildings.

Planning control

We seek to prevent new noise through planning controls: any new plant, which is visible, is likely to need planning permission.

To ensure that the premises is suitable for the location of this type of equipment and to ensure proper design we will generally require full details of all mechanical plant and equipment, noise generation, hours of operation and extent of usage at planning application stage.

Legal notice

Where the noise from existing plant and equipment is determined to be a statutory nuisance, we are obliged to serve a legal notice under the Environmental Protection Act 1990 requiring the noise to be abated.

You can view DEFRA's Guidance on the Control of Odour and Noise from Commercial Kitchen Exhaust Systems.

Permits

Some industrial processes require a permit to operate because by their nature they are liable to cause pollution to air or water.  Where these processes are noisy, they will be required to control this as a condition on the permit that we issue and enforce.