Odours
When is an odour a statutory nuisance?
The Council will investigate odour complaints and we can take action requiring any odour deemed to be a statutory nuisance to be remedied. Whether or not an odour constitutes a statutory nuisance as covered by Part III Environmental Protection Act 1990 depends on several factors :
- severity
- duration
- frequency
- time of day
Odour is subjective and a Council officer will make a decision on whether it interferes with the "average" person's reasonable enjoyment of their property or the public at large.
You will be asked to keep a record of what you can smell, for how long and at what time of day. We will then use this information to determine if there is any pattern to the problem and seek to find the cause and resolve the issue.
Odour may arise from a wide range of industrial processes or commerical premises. It is not possible to completely remove all odours, for example those from restaurants, but, by ensuring best practice, emissions will be minimised. If the odour is being controlled by best practice the Council would be unable to take further action to force changes.
The Council has no powers to deal with cooking odours from domestic sources.
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