20
2013
For Local Authorities: Noise Complaint Figures inform Public Health
Defra, the government department responsible for noise, are supporting Noise Action Week.
Noise is recognised as a factor impacting on people’s health in the Public Health Outcomes Framework (PHOF) 2012. This sets out a vision for public health in England, with desired outcomes and indicators to aid understanding of how well public health is being improved and protected.
The PHOF includes a noise indicator as a ‘wider determinant of health’. Local authority noise complaints returns are being reported nationally as part of this indicator, to see the results here.
This framework will inform new Directors of Public Health who will make strategic health decisions at the local level. Defra encourage all local authority noise teams to return their figures on noise complaints and enforcement to CIEH.
This data provides a key component of an evidence base in terms of increasing our understanding of the scale of the issue – for example, using the data reported in 2011, it has been estimated that Local Authorities in England received around 410,000 complaints about noise in 2010/11. This equates to around 1100 per day.
At the moment the indicator is made up of both actual and estimated data (where CIEH does not have results). It is important to get a more detailed and accurate reflection of the extent to which noise is impacting on individuals and communities.
We are reminding local authorities to complete and return results by Wednesday 31 July 2013 to build a complete picture of the extent of noise complaints in England. http://www.cieh.org/policy/noise-statistics-research.html
