City Council's Noise Squad Hits Small Screen

Belfast City Council's 'noise police' are to hit the small screen shortly with these 'silent heroes' set to become TV stars in a new documentary being screened on BBC1 for the next three weeks.

Noisy parties, barking dogs and faulty house alarms: it's all in a day's work for members of Belfast City Council's noise team.

The BBC's 'The Noise Squad' follows staff from a number of councils across the UK as they go about their daily jobs and the challenges they face in trying to keep the peace - in more ways than one.

Belfast City Council was approached to take part in the documentary as it has the only dedicated nighttime noise service in the whole of Ireland.

Dealing with around 6,000 complaints on average each year, the service was first introduced in 2000 after the council's pollution control unit carried out a survey of the nature of complaints it received to see if they could identify particular trends.

Councillor Pat McCarthy, Chairman of the Health and Environmental Services Committee, said: "The council took the decision 11 years ago to introduce this dedicated service as it wasn't usually until people wanted to go to sleep that they would experience problems, so usually at night or in the wee small hours.

"Before the service, complaints had to be made to the police or Housing Executive or landlords and they didn't really have the power or resources to deal with the issue, leaving people feeling very frustrated.

"The work of our noise team can't be underestimated and I think this series will be a real eye-opener for people when they see the kind of things our staff are dealing with.

"Often they are subject to threats or verbal abuse - sometimes even physical abuse - and all because they're trying to improve people's quality of life and ensure everyone gets a decent night’s sleep. It can be very challenging work," he added.

The film crew shadowed the noise team staff for a nine-week period earlier this year.

As well as attending callouts in relation to noisy parties, blaring music, and loud televisions, officers were also tasked with ensuring office workers didn't get a sore head on their lunch hours.

Cllr McCarthy added: "Having the big screen at City Hall is fantastic - particularly during the summer when the grounds were packed with people watching the tennis at lunchtime.

"But believe it or not it required some very technical work by our noise team staff to get the volume levels just right to ensure nearby office workers weren't disturbed."

Back in August 2000, the council adopted the provisions under The Noise Act (1996), which allows it to deal with noisy neighbours by way of warning notices, £100 fixed penalties and, in the most serious cases, they can pursue a prosecution.

In extreme circumstances, officers have the power to seize equipment such as stereos, radios etc. however the noise team will always try to resolve complaints informally.

In the majority of cases, once people have been informed that a complaint about noise has been received, they are very co-operative.

The figures for last year show that the service dealt with approximately 6,000 complaints - just over half of which (53%) were about loud music/noisy parties; 374 warning notices were served; 46 noise abatement notices were served; 14 fixed penalty notices were given and just seven prosecutions were made – five related to domestic' will start on Monday, November 28 at 11am on BBC1 and will run for three weeks, Monday-Friday.

(BMcC/GK)