Late-night noise patrols are coming to an end in December in Brighton and Hove.
People complaining about noisy parties will have to wait until the next day before one of the city’s new field officers comes to deal with the problem.
Hearing this left Leila Erin Jenkins, who lives in The Avenue, Moulsecoomb, frustrated over the weeked after two nights of noisy partying gave her family and neighbours sleepless nights.
She said: “We phoned (the council) on both Friday night and Saturday night and they refused to come out both nights.
“They told us to complain to our local councillors if we didn’t like it as they voted to cut the service.”
“I’ve always found noise patrol very effective. They (students) do tend to listen when it’s an ‘official’ attending.
“And it’s much better than leaving your kids asleep in the house while you go back and forth trying to get them to turn it down.
“I’ve got my husband here but some people are bound to be single parents. How do they deal with it? And our students don’t answer the door anyway.”
Brighton and Hove City Council said that demand for the service had reduced in the past few years hence the change.
There were currently four field officers working across the city. They started in September, with another four due to start working in December.
Their role includes troubleshooting, dealing with various issues from noise, planning enforcement and housing matters to community safety.
The field officer service will run from noon to 8pm seven days a week, with four to six staff working across Brighton and Hove on any given day.
Mrs Jenkins contacted Moulsecoomb and Bevendean Labour councillor – and council leader – Daniel Yates about the problem.
He said: “I have asked officers to look into these specific issues with the noise patrol which seem rather unhelpful – and also to be able to outline to all councillors how the new field officers will be able to work to ensure a strong and robust response.”
The council said: “We’ve found there are more cases where we’ve been unable to take action to stop the noise due to the behaviour of the perpetrator, meaning that neighbours’ expectations are raised and then not met.
“Under the new service, we will be visiting victims of noise nuisance and the perpetrators the following day, when officers are able to deal with the issues in a calm and safe manner.”
The Environmental Protection Team will still work out of hours and use digital noise recording equipment to gather evidence to serve noise abatement notices.
Anyone experiencing noise nuisance can call the Environmental Protection Team on 01273 294266.
Handing students a licence to party at any volume of decibel is irresponsible governance and not being able to stop a party is insane! Once a party is over, what do the party goers care? They don’t have them nightly and visiting them the next day, when it is over achieves what?
Tourism and Economic Development Committee meetings have seen acknowledgment that the night time economy is now a block on economic progress. The image of the city as being a place to go for a day, or just overnight, for hen, stag and getting wasted partying and clubbing is depriving hotels of long stay visitors of a higher quality who give the city more, spend more and help give a more diverse image.