Revealed: Two Scots council areas are UK noisy neighbour hotspots
NORTH Lanarkshire and West Lothian were two of the UK’S top 10 noisy neighbour hotspots in a study found the number of complaints more than doubled in a year in some during the Covid pandemic.
North Lanarkshire, the local authority area with 9,100 noise complaints, had the highest per capita number of complaints of any Scottish council area and the sixth highest across the UK.
West Lothian came a close second in Scotland with 4,631 complaints in 2020/21 – the eighth highest local authority area in the UK.
It comes from a new study which has found that neighbours’ children (36 per cent), concern over people having parties (33%) and gardens (32 %) were the worst causes of noise causing poor mental health in Scotland. Nearly 100 noisy neighbour complaints were lodged every day in Scotland in 2020/21 – an annual rise of eight per cent. More than 35,600 noise complaints were made in Scotland between April 2020 and March 2021, 2,800 more than the previous year.
In North Lanarkshire which accounted for more than a quarter (26%) of the country’s noise complaints total, there was a 13% drop in complaints over the year. But it was the only Scottish council area to make the top 10 of UK local authorities with the highest number of noise complaints.
It recorded the most complaints in Scotland, when taking into account local authority’s populations, with 26.8 per 1,000 residents. West Lothian came a close second with 25.7 followed by Falkirk (22.4) and Aberdeen (21.3).
The UK council area with the highest complaints per 1,000 residents was the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea with 99, with Dudley in the West Midlands a close second with 81.8.
In October, North Lanarkshire Council threatened to evict troublesome tenants in the wake of a rise in house parties in a Wishaw block of flats.
Police were called to several incidents in the Coltness area and said extra patrols had been put in place with the council giving tenancy warnings for “a number of noise related complaints”.
At the time Stephen Llewellyn, the council head of housing solutions, said: “We’re in the middle of a public health pandemic and government guidance on physical distancing and social gathering prohibits groups and other households gathering. Tenants must follow this guidance for their own safety as well as the safety of others.
“Antisocial behaviour which makes the lives of others miserable is not acceptable and we will pursue legal action against offenders which may lead to eviction.”
The council has since said that there ended up being no evictions.
Police in Scotland had been given powers to break up and disperse house parties amid concerns about links between large indoor gatherings and the spread of Covid19 cases.
First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said at the time that large house parties posed “a real and significant risk of causing clusters and outbreaks”.
The survey of Scotland’s local authorities carried out by Churchill Home Insurance also found the biggest rise in complaints came on the Shetland Islands where the number soared from 101 to 236, a 133.7% rise. Dumfries and Galloway came second with a 70.5% increase, followed by West Lothian (54.9%) and East Ayrshire (52%).
At the other end of the scale, West Dunbartonshire did not receive any neighbour noise complaints last year, while the Scottish Borders received just 67 (-29.5%) and South Ayrshire 98 (-39.5).
Psychologist Donna Dawson, said: “The past 18 months have seen our behaviour change in so many ways. With most of us being limited to our homes on a daily basis, it is understandable that noise complaints have risen.
“Even small changes in sound can cause increased anxiety and stress for many people, especially if it disrupts home life and makes it difficult to relax, work or look after family.”