Action taken against noise complaints has been on the decline despite the numbers of frustrated householders contacting the city council on this issue increasing by nearly 70 per cent.
A Freedom of Information request submitted by the Oxford Mail reveals that the number of noise complaints has increased year-on-year from 2021 to 2023 with more than 3,000 made across the three years.
In 2021, 711 complaints were made to Oxford City Council. This increased dramatically to 1,207 in 2022, a 69.76 per cent increase.
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The number of complaints slightly rose again in 2023 to 1,281.
However, the number of enforcement notices and fines given has decreased each year.
From the 711 complaints made in 2021, 211 were actioned. In 2022, 195 of the 1,207 complaints were taken further while only 72 out of the 1,281 were punished in 2023.
The types of reports received for noise include complaints of parties, music, domestic living noise, dogs barking, busking, DIY, alarms, shouting or arguing.
An Oxford City Council spokesperson said: “Enforcement notices and fines are a last resort.
“We prefer to engage with people before cases reach this level and these figures do not take information, advice and guidance given or warnings of further action into account.
“There can also be multiple complaints about a single person or property.”
The ward that had the most noise complaints across the three years was St Clement’s which saw 374 complaints made across the three years.
City Councillor for St Clement's, Alex Powell said: “St Clement's is an area that brings together businesses and residents.
“Residents should be entitled to peaceful enjoyment of their own homes, and I will be looking to work with residents and businesses to achieve this going forward.”
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St Marys had the second most complaints with 276 in the three years, while Donnington saw 240 complaints made during the same time period
Summertown had the least noise complaints with just 29 reports made over the three years.
Local authorities are responsible for investigating complaints about issues that could be a statutory nuisance and have a duty to carry out inspections to detect and investigate nuisance complaints, including those concerning excessive noise.
Oxford City Council run a noise app that allows residents to record noise issues on their smartphone or tablet and sending the recording directly to authority.
A statement on the city council’s website reads: “Our investigators receive noise recordings almost immediately and can act more quickly if the noise is particularly bad.”
Noise complaints that are not actionable by any authority include emergency service vehicle sirens, children playing and day-to-day activities such as conversations, flushing toilets, mowing the lawn or vacuuming at reasonable times of the day.
The city council’s advice also states that it no longer provides an out-of-hours noise service and will not attend night-time noise complaints.
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About the author
Rob is a digital reporter who also helps covering sport stories.
He joined the Oxford Mail in February 2023 having previously been at sister paper The Bucks Free Press for two years.
Rob completed a journalism course at Darlington College and can be found on X at @RobertFolker.
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