More than 5,000 noise complaints probed by Gwent councils (From South Wales Argus)

More than 5,000 noise complaints probed by Gwent councils

4:30pm Sunday 14th October 2012 in Gwent news By Will Bain

THERE were more than 5,500 complaints to councils in a year about noise pollution across Gwent.
Disturbances ranged from dogs barking to music blaring and even clay pigeon shooting causing residents a headache.
The figures from each of the region¹s five local authorities for the last financial year (April 2011- March 2012) showed that 5,610 complaints were made to the respective authority¹s environmental health departments, equating to just over 15 complaints a day.
Loud music and TV was the primary villain of the piece closely followed by dogs barking.
In Caerphilly borough alone man¹s best friend managed to drive 584 complaints to the council. In Torfaen 132 complaints were received in the same period.
In Newport animals counted for another 671 complaints while hounds were the source of a further 115 complaints in Monmouthshire, with 142 in Blaenau Gwent.
Scrambler motorbikes appeared on nearly all the councils'  lists .
Alarms blaring were another annoyance across Gwent, with another 51 complaints from residents.  DIY was another major source of complaints, and there were sporadic complaints about noise created by passing trains, fireworks and even a complaint in Monmouthshire in between October and December 2011 of noise caused by clay pigeon shooting.
But television and music was by far and away the biggest cause of complaint with 1,349 complaints in Newport, 92 in Torfaen, 70 in Mon-mouthshire, 761 in Caerphilly and 147 in Blaenau Gwent.
Unsurprisingly, given it is the most densley populated of all the boroughs, Newport topped the list of most complaints with 2,677 being recorded, followed by Caerphilly with 1,763 complaints.
Blaenau Gwent was next on the list with 456, with Monmouthshire posting 373 and Torfaen 341.
Councils have the power to seize items from persistent offenders and in Newport recent seizures have included a television, two stereos and 142 CDs.