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A more serious nuisance investigated was that of a
factory which opened up in most unsuitable premises
immediately adjoining residential properties. The factory
was engaged on wood machining of all kinds, involving the
use of power-driven saws, planes, etc. Not only was the
noise excessive, but the fire precautions and general
layout for a factory of this type were entirely unsuitable.
The District Surveyor and Factory Inspector were notified
of the conditions under which the factory was operating,
and following their intervention the business was closed
down.
All noise complaints,however, cannot be resolved as
satisfactorily from the complainant's point of view as the
foregoing cases. What constitutes a noise nuisance for
some people is often unnoticed by others, as was illustrated
by a resident who complained that students driving cars
owned by a local driving school used the particular stretch
of road outside his house to practice three-point turns.
The Public Health Inspector sat in the complainant's living
room the following Saturday and Sunday afternoons when it
was alleged the noise nuisance, by virtue of the number of
times this incident occurred, was at its peak.
Although the engines of the cars involved were clearly
audible they were no noisier than that of any average private
car, and the Public Health Inspector was unable to satisfy
himself of the existence of a noise nuisance. Nevertheless,
a number of the other residents in the area were interviewed
to obtain their reactions. The neighbours of the complainant
interviewed, however, had no complaint to make on the presence
of the cars in the road on the grounds of noise.
An. approach was then made to the owner of the driving
school, and he was advised of the complaint and requested to
ask his instructors to take the pupils somewhere else to
practice turns. The Proprietor denied that his cars caused
any undue nuisance and was not prepared to discontinue using
this particular stretch of road.
The Police were also consulted for their views but
could offer no assistance in the matter, and accordingly the
complainant was advised of the powers conferred by the Noise
Abatement Act, 1960 whereby any three or more persons
aggrieved by a nuisance shall have recourse to the Court by
way of private action.
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