Following complaints about Anti-Social behaviour at Brownes Pond which were highlighted recently following the death of a swan there in suspicious circumstances the Police have conducted extensive enquiries in relation to the incident and have also looked into the ASB claims by residents. At the same time Sedgemoor District Council has responded to other ASB issues generally by relaunching a survey to encourage people to log statistics into incidents in order to build up an evidence base.

A Police spokesman said “Following the recent information about the ongoing issues, Brownes Pond features on our ASB list and as a result, is given extra patrols by Neighbourhood PCs and PCSOs during the affected times. The Bridgwater Neighbourhood Team takes all reports of ASB seriously and all reports are followed up. CCTV would provide benefit to the ASB issues – this would be a matter led by Sedgemoor District Council, and supported by us. “

We want to hear your views

A statement from Sedgemoor District Council said “Sedgemoor District Council is committed to making Sedgemoor a safe place in which to live, work and visit. In order to understand the issues that matter most to you, we want to hear your views on crime and anti-social behaviour, so that we can work together with local partners to address these problems.”

To this end SDC have revived a survey which was last distributed in 2013 and say they will continue to gather the information every two years to help to understand our community’s perceptions of crime and anti-social behaviour.

They continue “We would be most grateful if you could spare a few moments to complete the survey by following the link below. This consultation will be open until 31st May 2015.”

You can take the survey here.

Action on Noise Nuisance

At the same time SDC are raising awareness of ‘Noise Nuisance and have put out a statement as follows;-

In the last 12 months Sedgemoor District Council has received 370 complaints about noise – everything from the playing loud music, excessive dog barking, DIY at unreasonable times through to people shouting.

From those complaints the Council served 7 statutory noise abatement notices on those people who continued to impose their unreasonable noisy behaviour on their neighbours. The Council also prosecuted three people for causing noise nuisance to their neighbours and also seized speakers, HI FI equipment, mixing decks and instruments belonging to those people. Thankfully the vast majority of cases are resolved through more informal channels as often neighbours may not realise the noise they generate is causing upset to others.

As a whole local authorities receive more complaints about noise every year than on any other subject. The most recently published government research showed:
· the number of people bothered by neighbour noise rose by 17% between 2002 and 2012
· one in five reported their sleep has been disturbed by noise.

As well as councils housing providers, mediation services and the police are also frequently involved in resolving noise disputes – so this represents a huge amount of time and money. Preventing noise problems is much cheaper than curing them – and better for everyone. Noise is also a public health indicator and therefore a Government target to measure and address due to the negative health effects of noise nuisance.

How to make complaints

A spokesperson for Sedgemoor District Council said ‘Sedgemoor District Council takes noises complaints very seriously. Once we receive a complaint we will ask the complainant to complete diary sheets for about 3 weeks so we can build up a pattern and evidence file of the noise being experienced. We will then assess if the noise is likely to be a nuisance and if so we may install noise monitoring equipment into the property. During this time, whilst holding all of the complainants details in the strictest of confidence, we also contact the alleged perpetrator so they are aware their behaviour is causing a disturbance. If monitoring equipment readings show that a statutory nuisance is being caused the Council will serve a notice and may remove the offending equipment’.

If you wish to make a complaint about noise, please contact Sedgemoor District Council’s Environmental Health Service with your name, address, and the details of the noise affecting you and the address of the property or business causing you concern.

Please call 0845 408 2540, 01278 435435 or email customer.services@sedgemoor.gov.uk. You can also visit our offices in Bridgwater House, King Square, Bridgwater, TA6 3AR between 08:45-05:00pm Monday to Friday.