City noise calls some of highest in England

NOISE COMPLAINTS in Leeds are some of the highest in the country as loud music, parties and sound from commercial buildings have angered residents, new figures reveal.

A Leeds Council boss has said “decisive action against those who have made their neighbours’ lives a misery” is being taken after a money saving website named the city as the third worst in England outside of London for such nuisance reports.

Consumer website www.lovemyvouchers.co.uk showed that residents in the city made 12.33 complaints per 1,000 people in 2016, with 9,541 reports lodged last year. This rose from 8,715 in 2015 and 8,058 in 2014.

It listed the areas of Hyde Park/ Woodhouse and Headingley as the areas fetching the most complaints (nine per cent each), followed by Burmantofts/Richmond Hill (eight per cent).

The service said that the most common noise objections in the city’s council area were about music, parties and noise from commercial premises.

Coun Debra Coupar, the council’s executive board member with responsibility for Safer Leeds, said: “There is no place for noise nuisance in our communities and people should never have to suffer this kind of anti-social behaviour.”

She added: “We are taking decisive action against those who have made their neighbours’ lives a misery and giving people greater confidence that we can and will use all the powers at our disposal when they report problems.”

The second worst area in England outside the capital was Cambridge, followed by Southampton. Leeds had the 21st highest number of complaints across the whole UK, followed by Hull.

London boroughs made up the majority of the top 20, with the wealthy Kensington and Chelsea area coming first.