Pets induce more headaches than punk

A new report into noise complaints and the reasons for them showed that the Londonderry area recorded the fifth highest amount of noise-demented citizens throughout the province in the period April 2008 to March 2009.

Noise Complaints Statistics for Northern Ireland 2008-2009, showed that there was a total of 321 complaints in the Derry City Council area and that 14 notices were served as a result.

Londonderry also bucked the province-wide trend and whilst the rest of the North West got quieter - in Limavady complaints dropped by 15.9 per cent and in Strabane by 2.8 per cent over the year - the Maiden City made a worse racket than before (up 8.6 per cent).

The majority of complaints were generated by howling dogs and crying cats. 159 reports of nuisance animals resulted in one formal notice being served by the local council.

Loud music was also a bugbear - not necessarily The Buzzcocks - with 96 complaints arising from music, television and parties and four formal notices arising consequently. Entertainment premises provoked nine complaints.

Buzzsaws were also a pet hate - industrial manufacturing workshops offended the ear drums of burghers on seven occasions over the year whilst construction works were too loud on eight occasions.

A combination of house alarms and security alarms delivered headaches on nine occasions whilst tub-thumping street orators and buskers were one of the least likely sources of public ire - just two complaints recorded.

The report noted that there were 3-5 noise complaints per 1000 of population and 2-3 notices served per 100 complaints. There were no prosecutions.

Belfast City Council received more than half of the total number of complaints but when the figures were adjusted to take account of population, Coleraine, Down, Ballymoney and Strabane were found to have some of the highest numbers of complaints per 1000 of the population. The lowest levels of complaints were in Castlereagh, Magherafelt, Fermanagh and Limavady.

The Department of the Environment (DoE) says the information is an important indicator of the effectiveness of current noise controls.

It is anticipated that the statistics provided by local councils will enable the DoE more appropriately target policy development and research needs in respect of environmental and neighbourhood noise.