Agenda item

A briefing on noise and licensed premises was provided. It was noted that WRS endeavoured to work with all parties to resolve the situation, informally where possible, to resolve noise nuisance complaints. It was highlighted that officers had noticed an increasing complexity in noise nuisance complaints with many investigations taking a prolonged period due to issues with obtaining sufficient evidence. The current backlog in the legal system caused further delays in some cases.

The WRS approach was to be proactive in relation to noise nuisance and work at a preventative stage so that issues did not arise in the first place where possible. It was reported that commercial premises were responsible for around one-third of nuisance complaints received by WRS. A large proportion of these related to issues with noise from pubs and clubs.

The proactive approach focused on premises such as pubs and clubs. A targeted advisory letter was sent to all pubs and clubs where a noise complaint was received in 2023, and the approach was further developed in 2024 to include issuing pre-season (pre-summer) noise control advice to premises where complaints had previously been reported. Officers reported that this approach received a positive response from the business community.

The guidance document for businesses was also created, attached for Members’ consideration at appendix 1 to the report, which provided a look at factors for consideration within noise nuisance such as noise amplification, equipment used, structure of the building and outdoor areas, together with a basic explanation of the law of nuisance. It was reported that further to the guidance document the WRS offered to visit any premise to discuss upcoming events as a proactive method to combat any potential complaints and this approach was continued in 2025.

In terms of the levels of noise complaints, it was reported that despite the hot summer in 2025, the levels of noise complaints were held at the same level as for 2023/24 when the summer weather was considerably wetter and colder.

A Board Member asked about complaints from residents about pubs and whether residents could either submit anonymous complaints themselves or for elected members to submit complaints on behalf of the complainant(s) to WRS.

The Community Environmental Health and Trading Standards Manager, WRS, responded that if a formal nuisance complaint was to be made, this required the complainant to provide their name and address as any assessment of nuisance would be made at their property, rather than the source of the potential nuisance issue itself. However, elected members could submit additional information or raise an issue with WRS officers to provide supporting evidence in respect of a case, particularly as the alleged nuisance issue may only be one of the problems created by activities at a location.

It was reiterated that in most cases the WRS used an informal approach to resolve or, in this case prevent problems, for example 130 advisory letters sent to businesses in the last year as part of the project, which were generally well-received and helped to resolve the issues before problems arose that might require formal action. Formal investigation was normally only required where businesses continued to ignore informal approaches and did not engage with WRS at an informal stage.

A question was asked with respect of the annual number of noise complaints received in respect of pubs and clubs for each of the six districts as set out on page 82 of the agenda pack. It was commented that numbers of noise complaints received about pubs appeared to be decreasing but there was a clear seasonal pattern to nuisance complaints and officers could not say if the project was the sole reason. One member asked about Redditch, which had only 9 noise complaints, and another member speculated that a reason behind this could be that a significant number of pubs had closed within Redditch over the last few years.

With respect of standard premises hours of operation and hours of live music / noise activity, it was noted that the Licensing Act 2003 does not generally allow any kind of blanket conditions beyond those that are mandatory in law, such as systems for preventing underage sales, and, whilst the licensing authority could set its own conditions, each case being considered on its individual merits.

It was commented that within the recent call for evidence/consultation on reforming the licensing system, the Government had suggested that blanket conditions might be removed, which the Director of WRS expressed surprise at, as no such conditions were present in the six district policies under this legislation. The Director indicated that the mandatory conditions currently within the Act played an important role in protecting communities and that these ought to be retained.

RESOLVED that the report be noted.