Planned Hartlepool 24/7 noise complaints service rejected due to 'excessive cost'

Councillors in Hartlepool have decided against bringing in a 24-hour noise monitoring service due to the cost and existing budget pressures they face.
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Hartlepool Borough Council’s neighbourhood services committee also decided against trialling a noise app, which would allow individuals to record a nuisance noise on their smart phone and send it to the council, due to similar cost concerns.

It comes after a full council meeting in January called on the committee to consider the introduction of both services.

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Officers estimated that to run a 24/7 monitoring service it would cost the council an additional £259,500 in additional staffing needed and associated costs.

Hartlepool borough councillors have decided against introducing a new 24/7 monitoring service “due to the excessive cost and limited benefit”.Hartlepool borough councillors have decided against introducing a new 24/7 monitoring service “due to the excessive cost and limited benefit”.
Hartlepool borough councillors have decided against introducing a new 24/7 monitoring service “due to the excessive cost and limited benefit”.

Meanwhile trialling the noise app would cost £42,000, due to staffing and technology instalment fees, and neither can be funded from the current budgets, officers said.

Sylvia Pinkney, assistant director for regulatory services, recommended the 24/7 noise monitoring service was not introduced “due to the excessive cost and limited benefit” at a time when the council is having to identify “significant budget savings”.

Cllr Shane Moore, council leader, said: “It’s not that we don’t want to provide these services, and it’s not that we don’t take these matters seriously, it’s just at the moment, it isn’t feasible.

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“We do act, we will do everything we can to resolve noise complaints, it just won’t go forward in the format that was proposed.”

He said his experience with the existing noise reporting system is that it is “very quick” and “very efficient”.

The council received an average of 479 complaints over the last three years with under 20 cases requiring out-of-hours visits to be made.