Making a complaint

Our staff are able to step in when noise being generated by some members of the community is excessive and causing a disturbance to others. Excessive noise is any noise that is under human control and that unreasonably interferes with the peace, comfort and convenience of any person. Complaints we deal with include stereo and party noise, band practices, security alarms and machinery noise.

There is no one set level for noise that is acceptable. The level of noise that is acceptable varies according to location of neighbours, time of day, zone you live/work in, presence of sound barriers and the type of noise. The same noise levels during the day may not be acceptable at night.

How noise is controlled

Under the Resource Management Act 1991 (RMA), Council has the power to control excessive or unreasonable noise. Our environmental health officers and resource consents compliance officers deal with noise issues, and we also contract services to First Security. All these people are trained noise control officers under the RMA.

Noise from moving vehicles, barking dogs, or within the workplace is not controlled by the excessive noise provisions of the RMA.

Making a complaint

You can complain about excessive noise at any time of the day or night, but it's important you call us when the noise is occurring so a noise control officer can take action. 

When making a complaint you may be asked to call back in 20 minutes to confirm that the noise is still happening. This is because many noisy activities only occur for a limited time, and we want to ensure the noise control officers are available to respond to the most serious incidents.

Make sure you phone us so we can act while the noise is still happening, rather than reporting the noise online or via Antenno.