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78
Recently, under Section 146 of the London Government Act,
1939, the Council made a byelaw prohibiting the operation of any
wireless loudspeaker, gramophone, amplifier or similar instrument
to the annoyance of the public. Similarly, a further byelaw was
made banning shouting or the use of a bell, gong or other noisy
instrument for the purpose of hawking, selling, distributing or
advertising any article so as to cause annoyance to the inhabitants
of the neighbourhood
Previously, power to deal summarily with a noise nuisance
under the Public Health (London) Act, 1936, was given to Councils
of the Metropolitan Boroughs by Section 66 of the L.C.C.
(General Powers) Act, 1937, such nuisance being defined in subsection
3 as "any excessive or unreasonable or unnecessary noise
which is injurious or dangerous to health". The new Act amends
this to read "any noise which is a nuisance", a definition which is
very vague and will have to be determined by the magistrate.
For a local authority to require its abatement, a noise or vibration
nuisance now need not necessarily be injurious or dangerous
to health. It must be admitted, having outlined the statutory aspect
of the problem, that nuisances arising as a result of noise are
extremely difficult to assess for noise constituting a nuisance to one
person may pass unnoticed or even be enjoyed by a neighbour.
Indeed with regard to noises and vibrations resulting
from trade or business it is a defence in any proceedings to show
that the best practical means have been used to prevent or counteract
the effects and therein lies the difficulty for local authorities.
Generally speaking, industry seems unable to accept the fact
that noise can be a public health nuisance. Doubtless a certain
amount of noise from factory processes is inevitable but legislation
to deal with "needless" noise had been long overdue. In the
1960 Act, however, the phraseology lacks the precision so necessary
for effective action and there is a crying need for some kind
of acceptable standard of "noise curve" (expressed in decibels and
cycles per second) to exceed which would constitute an offence.
In last year's Report, reference was made to the department's
efforts towards securing a reduction in a noise being emitted from
a large local factory at all hours of the day which was particularly
objectionable during the night and which was giving rise to serious
complaints. With the co-operation of the management several
schemes were tried without sufficient improvement and, following
representations by the Council, work on the particular process
was restricted to the hours between 6 a.m. and 10 p.m.
During the current year, some 18 relatively minor complaints
were received all of which were resolved satisfactorily without
recourse to legal action.