Clause 47 - Dealing with noise at night
Anti-social Behaviour Bill
3:45 pm
Mr Vernon Coaker (Gedling, Labour)
Clause 47 is welcome, in that it gives local authorities more power to deal with noise at night. It deals with an issue that we have continually raised in Committee-the cultural change needed to ensure that the new powers are used, especially as we have trouble trying to get the authorities to use the existing powers. We ought to put a marker down that the Bill is a plea, by Parliament and the elected representatives of our communities to those responsible for implementing the law, that they should do so with a greater sense of vigour.
I have a couple of specific questions. Like many other Committee members, I am sure that noise at night is an increasing problem. We have to deal with an increasing number of complaints about noisy parties, and as my hon. Friend the Member for Cleethorpes reminds us, about noisy fireworks. The clause would impose a fixed penalty notice, but I am not sure how much it would be. I wonder also what is the process for issuing such notices. Would it be easy for the local authority to issue them? What sort of evidence would be required, and would the person responsible for issuing them have a professional responsibility to issue a notice simply because there was a problem with noise?
In other words, is it a quick fix to some of the problems that we have to deal with in our constituencies, or will the power to issue fixed penalty notices be a bureaucratic process, one that is not easily used by those responsible for implementing them? Clause 47 makes some welcome and strengthening additions to the law, but I would like my hon. Friend the Minister to address those practical questions.