Sinn Fein councillor Eric McGinley
He said the issue of noise nuisance from particular properties has been raised at a number of Community Safety meetings he recently attended.
“It appears that the occupants of a small number of households persistently engage in activities which are not only disruptive to neighbours but, in particular cases, can also lead to violence and injury,” said Cllr McGinley.
“It is a slow and time-consuming process for agencies such as council and housing providers to collect evidence of noise nuisance which would allow for corrective measures to be put in place.
“It is also a strain on PSNI resources to attend to every noise complaint it receives from residents.
“At a recent meeting convened by the Outer West Safety Team it became evident that the Community Safety Wardens were limited in how they could respond in the absence of equipment to monitor and to record noise levels from any particular property.
“It was agreed at the meeting that Council officers would explore if the Warden’s role could be amended to give them sufficient scope to use hand held monitoring devices if these could be supplied in sufficient numbers.
“It was also agreed that all the agencies would work together to share information on noise nuisance properties and that the PSNI would respond quickly to calls from neighbours which related to these particular households.
“And its important to highlight that this issue is confined to a small number of houses and individuals but it is also important that the requisite processes and resources are in place to respond to these situations wheneverthey arise,” he added.
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