Noise
Noise complaints on the rise in Hertfordshire
Whether it is barking dogs, loud music and car alarms, or aircraft, traffic or industrial machinery, noise pollution can have serious effects on quality of life. The overall number of noise complaints received by councils in Hertfordshire rose in 2008/09, although the number of complaints about aircraft noise fell.
Indicator NO1 - Noise Complaints Received Per 1000 Population
Information on noise complaints in Hertfordshire is collected through the ten district councils. The first graph shows the number of noise complaints received by each district council’s environmental health department, per 1,000 population (based on 2008 mid-year estimates). The second graph shows the overall number of noise complaints for each district. For 2008/09 the number of noise complaints in the county per thousand was 6.2, based on a population of 988,300 with a total of 6,116 complaints.
Noise complaints received per 1000 population
Source: Hertfordshire councils November 2008 & 2009
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Noise complaints received by Hertfordshire district and borough councils
Hertfordshire councils November 2009
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At the time of going to print, noise complaint figures for Broxbourne Borough Council were not available and are therefore excluded from the county average.
They will be incorporated into these results and published on this website when available.
Every noise complaint is categorised by its source and split into six general categories. The figures are based on those in Indicator NO1 but are potentially subjective as the source of complaint will not always be consistently categorised. Domestic noise complaints account for the highest number of complaints, at 71%. Commercial/leisure complaints were the next highest at 15%. The other sectors receive a relatively low proportion of complaints.
Source: Hertfordshire County Council Environment Department November 2009
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Indicator NO3 - Complaints from aircraft noise
Hertfordshire’s location makes it vulnerable to noise from aircraft, being in close proximity to the major airports of Stansted and Luton. Civil aircraft noise is monitored by the airport authorities, with the latest complaint figures for Luton and Stansted shown below. Of the total noise complaints received by Stansted airport, 48% were from Hertfordshire residents. For Luton airport, 68% of their total noise complaints were from Hertfordshire residents, a reduction of 5% on last year’s figure.
| 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Luton | 718 | 1637 | 1213 | 1174 |
| Stansted | n/a | n/a | n/a | 2305 |
Source: London Luton & Stansted Airports Consultative
Committees Papers 2009
disclaimer
Due to a recent change in data collection methods, aircraft noise complaint figures for Stansted are not available on a comparable basis prior to 2008. All aircraft noise complaint figures presented here are not comparable with previous Quality of Life reports.