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Frequently Asked Questions

Getting started
Manual input of data using web based forms
Manual input of data using downloadable Excel spreadsheet
Automatic upload of data from a local authority system
Guidance and definitions for completing the survey

Getting Started

This is the first time I’ve contributed to the CIEH noise survey, where should I start?

1. The CIEH have created a website to help local authorities complete the noise survey. This is available at http://noisestats.cieh.org. Before using this website, local authorities will need to obtain a Username and Password by contacting the CIEH noise administrator using our web form. Contact Us.

2. There are four alternative methods for submitting data and these are described on the How To Contribute page of the CIEH noise statistics website. You now need to choose the most appropriate method for submitting data to the database.

3. Further guidance and definitions are provided below. Please refer to this guidance before attempting to complete the survey. See Guidance on completing the survey

Manual input of data using web based forms

How do I complete the web based forms?

1. Once you have logged onto the website using your local authority Username and Password, click on the Enter Data Through Browser option on the left hand screen menu

2. Select one of the main noise source categories listed on the top of this web page (Industrial, Domestic etc), then select the sub-category you wish to enter data for (the first of these sub-category forms for each noise source is opened by default in the screen window)

3. Enter the data for each relevant cell and use the tab button to navigate to the next cell

4. Each noise source sub-category covers two web pages. Once you have completed the first page, click on the green arrow at the top of the form to move to the second page (Part 2 of 2)

5. Once a sub-category is complete, select the next category from the list at the top of the web page

How do I save the data I have entered in the web form so that I can finish the submission at a later time?

Click on the Submit Page icon and this will save all of the data you have entered into the web form

How do I submit the data to the CIEH once I have completed the web form?

Click on the Complete – Submit to CIEH icon. This will notify the CIEH that data has been submitted. Please note that once data is submitted you will be locked out of the form. If you have clicked on this icon by accident, then email us using the Contact Us form to ask that your data is unlocked

I am trying to enter data on to the web form but all of the cells are frozen

You must have clicked on the Complete – Submit to CIEH icon. Email us using the Contact Us form and ask that your data is unlocked

How do I save a copy of the completed web form onto my computer?

Email the noise administrator using the Contact Us form and ask for a copy of the data. This can be sent in CSV or Excel spreadsheet formats.

Manual input of data using downloadable Excel spreadsheet

How do I get a copy of the Excel spreadsheet?

Go to the Download Survey Forms page of the website and you can download a copy of the form from here.

I am trying to enter data onto the Excel spreadsheet and get an error message saying "the cell or chart you are trying to change is protected"

Data can only be entered into the Data Input page of the spreadsheet. The tables 1 to 3 are automatically generated from the data input page and are therefore protected. If your data is not compatible with the Data Input page, contact the Policy Unit at CIEH for advice.

How do I submit data entered onto an Excel spreadsheet?

Email a copy of the completed Excel spreadsheet to the noise administrator at: NoiseStats@cieh.org

Automatic upload of data from a local authority system

How do I produce a data file in CSV format for automatic upload to the Noise Statistics website?

An example of an unpopulated CSV file is available from the CIEH. Email the noise administrator to request a copy of the file using the Contact Us form.

The CSV file contains three columns and one row that are describing the data that goes into each location in the file. Note that it is not necessary for you to replicate these names in your systems as data field names. You can use your own naming conventions. The important factor is that the location of the numbers in the CSV file should be correct. Also note that this file is populated with Y or N in each location. Y indicates whether an entry is a valid combination of a Noise Type and Location codes. Therefore if there is an N in a location in this file we do not expect any data.

The Y or N combinations will occasionally need updating to reflect any changes that may occur in the legislation. For example, the Noise Act 1996 offence for licensed premises will take effect from 28 February 2008 and the Y or N combination for this noise source will be altered accordingly for the 2008-09 noise survey.

How do I produce a data file in XML format for automatic upload to the Noise Statistics website?

The XML Schema and an unpopulated XML file are available from the CIEH. Email the noise administrator using the Contact Us form for further information.

Guidance on completing the CIEH Annual Survey of Local Authority Noise Enforcement Activity

The following notes explain some of our thinking behind the survey questions; it should help you to answer the questions if you know what we are looking for and why we have made some of the changes we have done. It is impossible to anticipate every interpretation and every query, however, so if you need to know more, please contact us.

Complaints and their processing

Number of complaints

All local authorities will collate numbers of complaints received about noise each year. Though a proportion of these will not be justified and they will include multiple complaints about the same noises, they provide evidence of demands on local services and the proportion of complaints resolved is an important performance indicator.

Number of resolutions

The resolution of a case can be defined as where no local authority action is possible or where the policy and procedure adopted by the local authority for dealing with noise has been followed through to completion resulting in one of the following:

• The complainant withdraws their complaint and no instance of statutory nuisance has been identified; or
• Informal action has been taken e.g. mediation or warning letter; or
• Formal action has been taken and the nuisance abated; or
• The matter has been referred to an agency outside of the local authority.

Assessing and dealing with noise incidents

Noise incidents complained of

Here, the word "incidents" has replaced "sources" in past surveys as a generic description of what people complain about and to prevent confusion with the activity from which the noise arises.

The object behind asking about incidents in addition to complaints is to better reflect both the local noise environment and investigatory workloads during the reporting year while avoiding the double counting which occurs with complaints (i.e. multiple complaints about the same incident). It also avoids any under-counting which may arise from the use of the word "sources" (i.e. where several incidents ascribed to a single source over time may have been aggregated).

Incidents confirmed as a statutory nuisance etc.

For consistency, "Incidents" again replaces "Sources" from previous surveys. Its intention is to distinguish that proportion of incidents over which authorities have formal enforcement powers (whether or not they use them), from those over which they do not.

"Confirmed" means that it was confirmed (correctly or incorrectly) by the investigating officer. We do not expect retrospective adjustments to be made to this figure as a result, for example, of a successful appeal.

NB "etc"; the figures sought here should includes all those incidents potentially giving rise to any of the further formal enforcement actions that are listed later in the survey i.e. not just statutory nuisances but also contraventions of restrictions on, or prior consents for, construction noise (whether under CoPA or the 1978 Order in N Ireland) and the emission of excessive noise in the context of the Noise Act 1996. The outcome of these incidents is then explored in subsequent questions.

Nuisances remedied without service of notice

This question seeks information on those statutory nuisances included in the total "Incidents confirmed as a statutory nuisance etc" (above) but which did not give rise to any formal action.

Note that this question is about nuisances alone, not about the other possible action triggers which are included under "Incidents Confirmed etc". Though in many cases authorities are obliged to serve an abatement notice, we know that does not always happen. There are often good reasons for that, (which Defra has acknowledged through the new discretion to defer), and this question seeks to capture them. The question is divided into four as follows:

1. Nuisance Ceased and Not Likely to Recur

   Although an authority had grounds to believe that a nuisance had occurred, at the time of investigation it had ceased and was not thought likely to recur - a "one-off" event, no notice possible.

2. Referred to Other Services

   This is included in response to requests to highlight the use of mediation and similar services. It may also satisfy a need where, in a small number of authorities, complaints arising in connection with the council’s own tenants are required by internal protocols to be passed to the landlord department for action.

3. Resolved Informally

This is for recording those "quiet words", e.g. where drawing the perpetrator’s attention to an unrealised problem is all that is required to resolve it.

4. No Action Possible

This could be used, for example, for those cases where despite the existence of a nuisance, you believe a business is employing the best practicable means.

Notices served

These questions, together with the later question about "Prosecutions Begun" account for those "Incidents confirmed as a statutory nuisance etc" which initiated a formal action. Also included here is a question which asks about numbers of notices served to restrict construction noise. These are not, of course, a response to noise incidents but they are included here since they are notices of a kind.

Five options are offered as follows. Note that Environmental Protection Act 1990 Fixed Penalty (Lond) can apply only in London

• Abatement Notice (S.80 EPA’90 or art 38 PCLG(NI)O’78)
• Prior Consent for Construction Noise (S.61 CoPA’74 or art 40 PCLG(NI)O’78)
• Noise Act 1996 Warning Notice
• Noise Act 1996 Fixed Penalty
• Environmental Protection Act 1990 Fixed Penalty (Lond) – this can apply only in London

Appeals against notices.

This question seeks the number of formal appeals made against the above enforcement actions (i.e. of which you have had notification from the Court) but not necessarily concluded one way or the other.

Appeals upheld

This question seeks the number of appeals upheld either in whole or in part and which are now concluded.

Prosecutions begun

The meaning of "prosecution" is well understood but note "begun". A prosecution is begun when information is laid. The prosecution does not need to have been concluded to be recorded here. Include all prosecutions for noise offences.

General Note on Summarising the Data

Broadly speaking, we would expect the totals to be as follows:

Convictions

This includes convictions regardless of the penalty awarded, convictions under appeal and formal cautions issued.

Nuisances remedied by LA in default

These are cases where the authority has carried out the necessary steps to abate the nuisance in default of the person on whom the notice was served. This includes circumstances subject to prosecution but should exclude seizures.

Seizures

This includes all cases of seizures, whether or not followed by forfeiture.

Noise types and sources

Sources

Local authorities will be familiar with the headline source categories ("Industrial", "Domestic" etc) but in response to requests, an additional source sector ("Miscellaneous") has been added to encompass public buildings (schools, hospitals etc), military facilities and "others" (such as churches or other places of worship). Complaints arising from these types of premises would probably not have been recorded previously. Past survey forms have also had separate space to record complaints about traffic, aircraft and railway noise, despite that we can do little about these sources. Traffic is now given its own source category to include noise from aircraft in flight but railway noise complaints should now be included under "Commercial/leisure".

These are, however, only two examples of the sub-categories of sources which have been added to give a greater level of detail than hitherto. For the most-part, where complaints/incidents etc should be assigned should be obvious but where the premises have a mixed use, and which is giving rise to the noise is uncertain, they should be assigned to the dominant use; do not assign to multiple sources.

Noise Types

The information requested on noise types is also new but again, they are intended to be mutually exclusive and which you choose should be obvious in most cases, thus for example, "Music" excludes music from a party or from a TV/radio.

Some combinations of noise source and noise type are not available.