The top 10 reasons for noise complaints in Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon
People in the Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon area have made one of the highest total number of official noise complaints anywhere in Northern Ireland over a 12-month period.
The details were released by the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (DAERA) as part of a Northern Ireland-wide data collection and show all the noise complaints registered with the 11 councils.
It also shows the most common reasons why people made an official noise complaint to the local council.
In Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon (ABC) there was a total of 783 noise complaints during the year up to March 31, 2023. Five notices were served in this time.
The figures equate to 3.57 complaints per every 1,000 people in the ABC council area, which has a population of 219,100.
Across all of Northern Ireland 11,338 noise complaints were received during this period of time - a 14.5% decrease compared to the previous year.
The highest number of complaints – 5,705 – was made in Belfast, followed by Antrim and Newtownabbey (821) and then ABC with 783 complaints. The lowest number of complaints – 282 – was recorded in Fermanagh and Omagh.
While the total number of complaints in the ABC area was the third highest in Northern Ireland, the area ranked seventh out of 11 when it came to the number of complaints per 1,000 people.
Top 10 reasons for noise complaints in Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon:
- Animal noise (457)
- Music / television / parties (113)
- Other neighbourhood noise (70)
- Industry, manufacturing and workshops (24)
- (joint) agricultural (15) and other noise in the street (15)
- Construction sites / demolition works / road works (14)
- Wind turbine (individual) (11)
- Antisocial behaviour (9)
- House alarms (8)
- (joint) entertainment premises (7) and vehicle horns / revving engines / noisy exhausts
DAERA said the information in the report is an important indicator of the increasing public awareness of noise issues and the effectiveness of current noise controls.
"The statistics provided by district councils enable the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs to target policy development, such as through the application of the powers in the Noise Act 1996 following the introduction of the Clean Neighbourhoods and Environment Act (Northern Ireland) 2011 in April 2012.”