Noise Control

Be a Good Neighbour

• Be aware of the impact of your noise on your neighbours.
• If you intend to have a party, carry out any building work or any other noisy activity on your property, talk to your neighbours first.
• Mow your lawns at reasonable times during daylight hours. It's a good idea to avoid mowing early in the morning, particularly at weekend or on public holidays.
• Comply with any resource consent noise restrictions for events, commercial land development or construction work.

What is Excessive Noise?

The level of noise permitted by our District Plan is dependent on many factors. We therefore have Environmental Health Officers and contractors trained as noise control (enforcement) officers. They are able to measure and confirm whether or not noise is excessive.

The Resource Management Act 1991 is designed to:

• Protect people from unreasonable or excessive noise
• Provide effective noise control in our community
• Protect the rights of people and industry to make a reasonable level of noise, and
• Allow the public, the local authorities and the police to work together to control noise.

Owners or occupiers of land and buildings are responsible to ensure the noise on their property does not create a nuisance for others.

The noise may be caused by stereos, musical instruments, alarms or machinery.

If you would like to find out what levels are permitted in our District Plan, please contact our Environmental Health Officer on 03 319 5026 who can confirm the details.

How to make a complaint

You can report any excessive noise problem to the Council's customer services. It is better to report the noise when it's happening, not the next day.

• Report the excessive noise while it's happening. You can do this by calling the Council on 03 319 5026 and following the options offered.
• A noise control officer will assess the complaint. They will decide if the noise is reasonable or excessive by considering: volume, time, reason for the noise, whether or not the noise has a particular tonal character and how often it occurs and for how long.
• If they find people are creating excessive noise, they will issue a verbal or written notice (this notice is valid for 72 hours) to reduce the noise to a reasonable level (most people will cease excessive noise at this stage). If further excessive noise complaints are received within the 72 hours and the noise is deemed excessive, a noise control officer and the police may enter the property and remove whatever is making the noise.
• In the case of people noise, the officer can require the noise to be reduced, but if there is also anti-social behaviour involved you should contact the Police.

If the noise relates to a dog barking

Talk to the dog's owner first and politely tell them their dog's barking is disturbing you. If the problem cannot be resolved this way, contact us on 03 319 5026 and follow the options for our animal control officer who will deal with the complaint.

Are noise complaints confidential?

Yes; the noise maker is not advised as to who has complained. Your details are only required by the council in order for us to monitor ongoing noise problems.

What to do if your equipment is seized

If your equipment is seized by a Noise Control Officer it will be delivered to a secure lock-up. The equipment will be returned to its owner if the Council is satisfied that it will not be used to create further noise problems.

1. Telephone the council to find out where to collect your goods and how much money is owed.
2. You will need to pay for the cost of call-outs, storage and delivery.
3. Payment must be in cash or by EFTPOS; credit cards not accepted.
4. When you collect your equipment please bring proof of identity and the original copy of the seizure notice.