14 July 2021
St Helena Police are currently conducting an education and awareness programme for the local community. Each week a different topic will be aired on local radio stations, issued via information releases and posted on Social Media.
This week’s topic is Noise Abatement:
This week we would like to make the public aware of the law regarding Noise Abatement: This legislation can be found under Section 12 of the Summary Offences Ordinance which is available for the public to read on the St Helena Government Website.
Noise Abatement is to reduce noise from a given source and to protect people from being exposed to such noise.
For a person to commit an offence under this section the circumstances existing at the time must be unreasonably caused or likely to cause an annoyance or nuisance to occupiers of nearby premises.
Elements which should be taken into account are:
a) The time of day
b) The source of the noise and the reason for its noise
c) The event (if any) giving rise to the noise; and
d) The duration of the noise.
Common reports involving noise include: ‘The neighbour is playing loud music at 2am ’, ‘the neighbour is doing maintenance on their house and I am working from home’ or even ‘the neighbour is revving up there car engine and we are trying to sleep’.
Other reports received by Police include dogs barking and causing a nuisance and drivers with the music volume turned up loud in their cars when driving past.
While there is a law to assist in these matters, many of these issues can be solved by being neighbourly. If you have tried to resolve the matter yourself but have been unsuccessful then please call the Police.
The penalty for this type of offence could be as much as a fine of £100.
SHG,
13 July 2021