Public Health
Your Council has a responsibility under the
Environmental Protection Act 1990 to deal with
situations where there may be a risk to your health or a nuisance
is is being caused which significantly affects your comfort. These
are generally referred to as public health nuisances.
The legislation defines which matters constitute a
statutory nuisance
- Any premise in such a state as to be prejudicial to health or a
nuisance;
- Smoke emitted from premises so as to be prejudicial to health
or a nuisance (Dealt with by separate guidance leaflet);
- Fumes or gases emitted from premises so as to be prejudicial to
health or a nuisance;
- Any dust, steam, smell or other effluvia arising on industrial,
trade or business premises and being prejudicial to health or a
nuisance;
- Any accumulation or deposit which is prejudicial to health or a
nuisance;
- Any water covering land or land covered with water which is in
such a state as to be prejudicial to health or a nuisance;
- Any animal kept in such a place or manner as to be prejudicial
to health or a nuisance;
- Any insects emanating from premises and being prejudicial
to health or a nuisance;
- Artificial light emitted from premises or any stationary object
so as to be prejudicial to health or a nuisance;
- Noise emitted from premises so as to be prejudicial to health
or a nuisance (a separate guidance leaflet on noise is
available);
- Noise that is prejudicial to health or a nuisance and is
emitted from or caused by a vehicle, machinery, or equipment in a
street or in Scotland, a road.
Who would deal with your Complaint?
An Environmental Health Officer or Technical Officer who are
specially trained staff whose main purpose is the enforcement of
Environmental Health Laws.
Why are they Involved?
Public Health nuisances by their very nature may have an adverse
effect on the health or cause a nuisance to individuals or a
community. Authorised Officers have power to take action
against the person or persons causing a statutory nuisance.
What will happen if you report a Nuisance?
When your complaint is received you will be contacted within 3
days and be advised of the action we propose to take. In most
instances you will be contacted earlier depending on the initial
assessment of your complaint by the Officer.
What will the Officer want to know?
The Officer will need information to determine whether it is a
nuisance or not. If it is considered that immediate or early
investigation is required then a visit will be made within 3
working days of your complaint. This is because it is
necessary for an Officer to confirm statutory nuisance before
formal action can be taken.
In some cases where the nuisance is intermittent you will
receive a monitoring form and be asked to record all the events
over a period of time. This is particularly the case with
noise complaints and complaints of smell. Once we have
received the completed form we should be able to determine the
extent of your complaint and a decision will be taken whether or
not to carry out further investigation.
If our investigations confirm the existence of a statutory
nuisance the local authority has a duty to serve the appropriate
notice on the offender to have the nuisance conditions removed or
have the activity causing the nuisance abated or modified.
However where there is a likelihood of having the nuisance dealt
with informally we may initially write to the offender.
The Local Authority may also give the person committing the
offence a fixed penalty notice offering the opportunity of
discharging any liability to conviction for that offence by payment
of a fixed penalty of £150 (£400 if the nuisance is
arising from industrial, trade or business premises
Sometimes it is necessary for complainants to give evidence in
court. It is important that where formal action is to be taken you
should be prepared to go to court. This is particularly the
case where part of the evidence is the number of times an event
occurs and this cannot always be confirmed by the Officer.
It is our experience that not all activities which cause
annoyance to you will in the Officers opinion constitute a
statutory nuisance requiring formal action by the Council. In
such circumstances you will be informed of the decision and you
will be given advice about taking action yourself if you wish to do
so.
Confidentiality
Your name and address will not be given to the person complained
about without your permission. However you should be prepared
to give us your name and address and you should also be aware that
if the complaint is either dealt with by formal Notice or it ends
in court action it will likely lead to the offender knowing who you
are.
How to Contact us
If you have any queries, questions, or wish to report a
fault or make a complaint about our service please call The
Environment Service Helpline where one of our operators will
be happy to assist you.
Telephone: 01738 476476 (Available Monday to Friday 08:45am to
5:00pm) or after hours leave a message and someone will phone
you back. You can also email es@pkc.gov.uk or write
to Environmental Health, The Environment Service, Pullar
House, 35 Kinnoull Street, PERTH, PH1 5GD.
