Environmental Protection service standards

We will respond to complaints of Noise, Air Pollution and Other Nuisances by:

Discussing the nature of the complaint with the complainant at the first point of contact (when made by telephone), advising on the legal position and discussing possible outcomes. Where the complaint comes through another means we will contact them within five working days.

At this point of contact we will usually write the alleged source of the complaint telling them about the complaint and asking them to contact us to discuss the issue.

In some cases, a site visit will be made to assess the alleged nuisance at a time when it is occurring or likely to occur. Where the alleged nuisance is intermittent we will ask the complainant to keep an “Incident Log”, for a time (usually 14 days but no longer than one month) showing the times and dates and nature of the incidents to enable us to decide when to monitor the alleged nuisance.

Normally, we will not visit until this log has been sent back. Monitoring the alleged nuisance will be an officer visit at a time when the alleged nuisance is likely to occur. Sometimes, in the case of noise, sound recording equipment will be left with the complainant to switch on when the noise occurs. If no nuisance is found after three officer visits, or two periods using the sound recording equipment, we will normally close the case. The complainant will be advised in writing that no further action can be taken.

Where sound recording equipment or monitoring visits by officers could or is likely to be used we will, at the start, tell the person allegedly causing the nuisance that we might use such equipment, (to comply with Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act). We will not tell them when the monitoring will be taking place.

Contact will be made with the person/organisation complained about. Their rights, duties and our expectations will be explained and we will try to get their co-operation to resolve the matter. Where practicable, we will provide advice on best practice but we will not provide consultancy services on abatement or noise reduction.

Appropriate action will be considered in line with the Corporate Enforcement Policy.

Where we ask for evidence from complainants, in the form of incident logs, but nothing is heard for one month we will close the case.

Investigation may be re-started if more evidence of potential nuisance is received. Complaint investigation is unlikely to restart if we do not have evidence that the situation has changed.

We have a general aim to resolve the case within three months of first receipt. Circumstances vary and complicated cases may take longer.

Domestic Noise

We will respond to domestic noise complaints (that is noise from a residential household), as follows:

We will send a letter to the complainant and the person complained about outlining the details of the case. It will explain the legal position and how the Council will proceed with the investigation. It will suggest that they try to resolve the matter between them, through discussion. Where the matter is about something that appears unlikely to be classed as a nuisance we will advise the complainant at the time and offer advice.

The Environmental Protection Team and The Housing Managers at Town and Country Housing Group have a joint working protocol for investigating noise complaints involving their properties. The idea is to use a simple and quicker approach which gives the best service to the people being affected and to stop both teams investigating the same thing at the time.

If you are a Town and Country Housing Group tenant and you have a problem with noise you should contact your housing manager first, they will do the first part of the investigation and if needed pass it on to the council for further investigation. If we get evidence that the noise is unacceptable we can then work together to decide on the best action to take.

If the case has been closed (as above) but a further complaint is made, the case will not be reopened on the basis of the same evidence. If the complainant gives us new evidence or some major change in circumstances has occurred, a new case will be opened and the procedure started again.

If the evidence does not suggest further action can be taken or that further investigation is justified, we will advise the complainant to consider taking their own legal action if they wish to. Advice will be given as to how to pursue the matter under section. 82 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990

If the logs show that there is a potential nuisance we will investigate further as described above.

If the noise is likely to result in a large impact on local residents (for example, when there have been at least three complaints from separate households) and is taking place at the time of the call, or if the complaint relates to a vehicle alarm or premises alarm, we will, try to, visit the same day. If we are requested to attend by a partner agency such as the Police, Fire Service, Community Safety Unit or Environment Agency we also try to visit the same day.

If it appears that the bonfire burning wood or garden waste, by sending a standard advice letter to the person complained about. A standard advisory letter will also be sent to the complainant. (Target - within five working days)

If a further complaint is received, the complainant will be asked to keep a log of any disturbance, and send it to us after a period of no longer than one month.

If bonfires are shown to be rare and the matter does not lend itself to further investigation, the complainant will be advised to take their own legal action if they wish to pursue the matter.

If the log shows that a nuisance is likely to be caused, the process will be similar to that followed for noise nuisance.

If there is evidence to suggest bonfires are to be burned for a continuous period of more than one day and/or things other than wood or plant matter are being burned giving rise to dark smoke or offensive odours, we will try to visit as soon as possible to see if a nuisance is being caused.

The Council does not own any drains or sewers (except in its own properties) and, is not responsible for cleaning or maintaining sewers or drains in the Borough. Public sewers and private sewers serving more than one residential premises are the responsibility of Southern Water Services and highway drainage is the responsibility of Kent Highways. Private drains are the responsibility of the owner or owners of the property.

Under Building, Environmental Protection and Public Health legislation, the Council has a duty to ensure that adequate provision for drainage of property is or has been made and maintained in good working order. This means that if the drain sewer serving your property becomes blocked or is leaking, the Council may require you to carry out cleaning/unblocking or repairs. Mostly this is done by way of information and advice about how to do this or what is required. The case officer will assist with this as far as possible.

Where persons responsible do not or cannot do necessary repairs or improvements, the Council may need to serve a legal notice requiring the owners concerned to carry out the work. If this is not done the Council may need to carry out work in default, the cost of which would be recovered from the owner and/or occupiers.

The Environmental Protection Service acts as a 'Responsible Authority' under the Act. This means that we have a responsibility to comment, on applications for premises licences.

Where the licensed premises are in a location where public nuisance or disturbance is likely, for example late night noise in a mainly residential area, conditions may be asked for. In some cases we may decide that we need to recommend refusal of a licence. This will because adding conditions will not be enough to prevent a nuisance.

Where an existing licensed activity is causing such disturbance we may seek a review of the licence. This could involve asking for conditions designed to restrict certain licensed activities, or that certain activities giving rise to disturbance stop. If this cannot be done by negotiation with the licensee it will result in a formal hearing of the Council's Licensing Sub-Committee or, in the event of an appeal, to a magistrates' court.

If you are disturbed excessively by activities at licensed premises, or are aware of an application for premises licence which you believe may cause neighbourhood disturbance you can discuss the issue in the first place with a Licensing Officer.

The Council does not provide an Environmental Protection service outside office hours. However, some issues may arise, such as late night noise causing a public nuisance, which might require an immediate response. If you do call the Council outside normal office hours:

You will be connected to the out-of-hours call centre who will record the details of your complaint and advise you whether the complaint is one that will be passed to an officer that night or whether it will be passed to the Environmental Protection Team for investigation the next working day.

If the matter is one which needs to be dealt with immediately, the details will be passed to the duty environmental health officer.

The duty environmental health officer will then call you back to find out the extent of the problem and will decide whether a site visit needs to be made.

Please be aware that the out of hours duty officer will be responding from home so it may take some time to arrive at the site.

The service is only operated to cover ‘emergency’ environmental protection problems. This includes noise affecting a large number of people such as intruder and car alarms or noisy parties about which numerous individual complaints are received.

If we need to serve a notice and then do works in default for instance to silence a burglar alarm the full costs of doing this will be passed on to the owner.

The Environmental Protection service does not deal with issues relating to housing conditions and standards, overcrowding, houses in multiple occupation, temporary homes or caravan sites. These are dealt with by the Council's Private Sector Housing team

The Environmental Protection team has certain responsibilities to regulate emissions to air, water or land including noise and vibration from some industrial processes. These controls are made under The Local Authority Pollution Prevention and Control (LAPPC): Part B or Local Authority Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control (LA-IPPC): Part A2. These form part of a comprehensive set of controls which are also administered and enforced by the Environment Agency with Local Authorities.

The operators of specified industrial and other installations must have a permit to operate from the local authority. The local authority then decides whether to issue or refuse a permit. If a permit is issued, it will include conditions aimed at reducing and preventing pollution. Types of installations, (part B processes) controlled by local authorities include:

Solvent processes such as:

• dry cleaning processes
• paint spraying
• printing
• wood coating
• petrol filling stations

Mineral processes such as:

• cement processes
• concrete crushing

Combustion and incineration processes:

• boilers and furnaces
• crematoria
• waste oil burners
• animal and vegetable processing processes

When determining an application for a permit the local authority must take into account whether it believes that the applicant will operate the installations in accordance with the permit and any conditions contained in it. If the local authority thinks that operation of the process will, for whatever reason, have an adverse environmental impact, it must refuse the application.

Conditions added to permits for “A2” installations, in addition to dealing with emissions to air, also ensure:

• efficient use of energy
• waste is minimised or disposed of safely
• accidents are prevented
• Any emissions are kept to a minimum and appropriately monitored where necessary and remain within ‘Emission Limit Values’ as set by the Environment Agency. This can include noise and vibration controls.

The local authority normally determines an application within four months. Sometimes, we may require an extension for the period for determination and this is done with the agreement of the operator.

There is a fee (set by the Department of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs DEFRA) for determining an application and annual review.

We make routine inspections of permitted installations (in accordance with an agreed method of risk assessment) by prior agreement with the operator. We can visit high or medium risk installations without prior notification. We will also inspect permitted processes if we receive a complaint about a process or become aware of a pollution issue with a permitted process.

Any enforcement action will be taken in accordance with the Council’s Enforcement Policy.

Part IIA of the Environmental Protection Act 1990 came into force on 1st April 2000. This legislation requires local authorities to identify contaminated land that is posing an unacceptable risk to human health or the wider environment, and to secure remediation of that land. This may be by reacting to pollution incidents, ensuring that any new development involves remediation of land contamination when necessary, or by implementation of its long-term strategy to identify and to investigate potentially contaminated sites.

Tunbridge Wells Borough Council has adopted the following strategy to meet the requirements of this legislation. It meets the guidance issued by DEFRA.

The Council aims to:

• identify all potentially contaminated land capable of causing significant harm
• prioritise identified land according to risk
• assess identified land according to that risk
• designate that land as contaminated by definition of the new contaminated land regime
• identify appropriate persons (those responsible for the contamination)
• apportion liability for remediation of contaminated land
• record all regulatory action on a public land register

For further guidance on Part IIA and contaminated land issues, please visit the Environment Agency website.

In addition to the regulatory aspect of contaminated land we are able to offer advice and guidance to developers of potentially contaminated sites and to buyers or sellers of sites on or near sites of potential land contamination. Please see the contaminated land section of our website for further information.