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Noise Abatement Act, I960
Under Section 1 of this Act which came into operation on the 27th
November, 1960, noise or vibration which would amount to a nuisance at
common law becomes a statutory nuisance which can be dealt with according
to the procedure provided in Part III of the Public Health Act, 1936.
Local Authorities will under this procedure be able to require the abatement
of a noise or vibration nuisance by the service of an abatement notice
on the person causing the nuisance or on the owner or occupier of premises
on which it arises and if the notice is not complied with it can be enforced
by proceedings in a magistrates court. Apart from action by a local authority,
three or more occupiers of land or premises who are aggrieved by a noise
or vibration nuisance may make a complaint to a magistrate.
Section 2 of the Act deals with the use of loudspeakers in streets.
It prohibits their use for any purpose between 9 p.m. and 8 a.m. (except in
special circumstances) and at any other time for advertising any trade,
business or entertainment with the exception that between noon and 7 p.m.
a loudspeaker fixed to a vehicle used for the sale of perishable foodstuffs may
be operated to announce that the commodities are for sale. The loudspeaker
is, however, not to be so operated as to give reasonable cause for annoyance
to persons in the vicinity.
Six complaints of noise were investigated and satisfactorily dealt with
during the year.
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