Essex noise complaints see huge rise in during COVID-19 pandemic

Research from the insurance company Churchill revealed that nearly 370,000 noise complaints were made between April 2020 and March 2021.

That is 28 per cent more than the previous year when 289,000 complaints were made.

Additionally, 86 per cent of councils reported a rise in complaints in 2020/21 compared to 2019/20.

Overall, it accounted for around 1,000 complaints a day across the UK, with approximately 40 an hour.

However, despite suffering from the increased noise disturbances, just 11 per cent of those affected actually reported it to their local council.

This indicates that in actuality there may have been 3.3 million noise issues caused during 2020/21.

What was Essex like for noise complaints?

On a regional level Essex was grouped with the South East, which is distinct from London, which had the most complaints by some distance.

The South East as a whole had 43,522 noise complaints during 2020/21, a 32 per cent increase from 2019/20.

Additionally, that meant its share of all noise complaints ranked at 12 per cent of the 368,924 made in 2020/21.

What was the worst area for complaints?

London topped the list on a regional level with a massive 123,919 complaints in 2020/21.

This was 73,870 more than the second highest in the West Midlands on 50,049.

Steven Williams, Head of Churchill home insurance, said: “The pandemic has seen us confined to our homes which means we’ve probably all become very aware of noises around us.

“As we go into more of a ‘new normal’, many of us will carry on working from home, at least part of the time, so noisy neighbours will continue to be really disruptive.

“It may be the case that neighbours don’t realise they are being noisy so the first step should always be speaking to them and explaining the problem.

“If that doesn’t work and they carry on, then keep a record of the type of noise and time of day and speak to your local council about raising a potential noise complaint.”