East Antrim noise levels

The noise complaint statistics for Northern Ireland show that over the 2013/14 period, there was a leap of 54.7 per cent in the number of noise complaints in the Larne area compared with the year before.

Meanwhile, the Carrickfergus Borough Council area experienced the second biggest decrease in noise levels, with a fall of 11.2 per cent over the same period.

In the Newtownabbey Borough Council area, the situation remained largely static, with a fall of 0.3 per cent compared with the year before.

Throughout the three council areas, animal noise was responsible for the highest proportion of complaints of any noise category. In total, there were 116 noise complaints in the Larne area, of which 70 were animal noise cases.

In Carrickfergus, there were 119 noise complaints, with animal noise complaints accounting for 66 reports. In Newtownabbey, 173 of the total 344 complaints related to animal noise.

This year is the second that the Noise Act 1996’s night-time noise powers have been applied across the Province. This allows fines of up to £1,000 to be issued for night-time noise offences, after a warning has been issued. Across the 26 council areas, noise reports for the year up to March 2014 fell by 2.3 per cent to 11,865.