City's overnight noise complaint service faces axe

Shutting the service would have "minimal impact" in dealing with noise complaints, the council said

An out-of-hours service for noise nuisance complaints in Leeds is to be scrapped under cost-saving plans by the city council.

The authority said it planned to abolish the overnight service, which currently operates between 17:00 and 04:00, in a bid to save £72,000 a year.

The service receives thousands of noisy neighbour complaints each year and is normally staffed by the equivalent of seven full-time officers.

People wanting to complain about late night noise would be advised to use mobile phone recordings and CCTV to gather evidence, the council said.

A council revenue savings report said the loss of the service would have "minimum impact on how we respond to complaints of noise nuisance", according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

'New system'

Local authorities are required to investigate complaints that could be a statutory nuisance and can issue noise abatement notices.

The out-of-hours noise nuisance service in Leeds received 7,480 calls during 2022-23, the council said.

A Leeds City Council spokesperson said a new computerised complaints system would make it easier for householders to report problems.

“Noise nuisance is to be the first complaint type to use this new system," they added.

“We will also be advising customers that we can now use their mobile phone recordings or any capture on CCTV to assist in the evidence gathering.”

The proposal to scrap the out-of-hours service will not affect the service funded by the city’s two main universities which investigates noise nuisances caused by students.