Nuisances
Below are sets of advice on specific nuisances and how to report them. They are, wherever possible, the most up-to-date information. If you discover any variation or departure to the processes outlined below, please let us know. Simply click on the group to reveal the suggested actions below and click the group heading again to hide the suggested actions.
Please remember that we want you to enjoy living here and these suggested actions are designed to improve your enjoyment of your home.
This section is designed to give you simple suggestions to report noise whenever it occurs and was originally supplied by the Jesmond Residents Association.
If a resident is disturbed by late night noise, he/she may decide to phone the Police on 101 (the Police non-emergency number). The resident making the call should make it clear to the Police if those making the noise are confined to a property or are spilling out from a property onto the street. Note that transient noise which is not associated with a property is very difficult for the Police to deal with.
Every incident reported to the Police via 101 will be assessed by a call handler at the Police control room. They will carry out a risk assessment based on the information given by the caller. The risk assessment will take into account the level of threat, harm, vulnerability of those involved and a number of other factors. Once completed a decision will be made whether it is appropriate to deploy a Police resource to deal with the incident.
If the incident involves noise from within the boundary of a dwelling, including gardens, back yards etc it is unlikely that a Police resource will be deployed unless there are aggravating factors which raise the level of risk. In those circumstances the call will be logged and the caller will be advised to contact the local authority during the morning of the next working day.
The exception to this response will be on the nights where Operation Oak Police staff are on duty. (Operation Oak is funded by the North Jesmond, South Jesmond and Ouseburn wards as well as the two universities.) These are usually Friday and Saturday nights and some additional nights throughout the year which have been identified as having an elevated risk eg when large scale student events have been organised. On the nights where Operation Oak staff are on duty the officers will contact the control room staff at the beginning of their duty to let them know that they are available to be deployed. On these nights the normal risk assessment policy will be set aside and the officers will attend any noise related incident. However, there may still be delays as they will only be able to deal with one incident at a time.
The City Council Noise Team currently operates between 08.30 and 16.30 Monday to Friday. To report a disturbance due to late night noise contact the City Council on 0191 2787878 and the details will be passed on to the appropriate team member. Calls received outside office hours will be dealt with by a 24-hour call centre staffed by YHN*. The details will be sent to the Noise Team for investigation on the next working day.
If you think the noise is coming from students you may, in addition, contact Newcastle University Student Progress Service on 0191 2085293 OR e-mail: casework@ncl.ac.uk
Most students in Jesmond are from Newcastle University - a minority are from Northumbria University where the appropriate number is 0191 2273999.
Finally, it is sometimes worth contacting the Letting Agent (if the contact number is available).
*YHN ( = YourHomesNewcastle) is the managing agent for the social housing owned by Newcastle City Council.