E-petition - Noise complaints rights waiver near motor sport

[Bullett]

Agent of change, this works for music, motorsports everything.

https://www.change.org/p/sajid-javid-mp-adopt-the-...

[Maulden7]

Right, I am involved in motorsport (sprinting) attend track days, play in a rock band in pubs / clubs etc, & live within a few "crow miles" of Santa Pod (& motorsport doesn't get any louder than this) Until recently I also lived in a small village where the church clock struck every 15 minutes 24/7 (I moved for family reasons & nothing whatsoever to do with the bells - they didn't bother me at all after a while - even in the summer with the windows open at night)

So ..... I see the problem from just about every angle, but imo this "rights waiver" suggestion has no chance whatsoever in succeeding, & neither should it.

Equally, I have no sympathy at all for folks who move in near a "loud venue" of any sort, & then complain about the noise. The price they pay for the property should take this into account, so they already have an unseen benefit & have accepted the "noise" when agreeing to buy.

If you buy a home under the flight path of Heathrow for example, the price reflects the location / any inconvenience, & you know what you are getting. So, with some pre-purchase research you also should know what you are getting, no matter where the house is located.

What I will accept is that the questionnaire that all property sellers have to complete should include a specific section about "local noise" potentially annoyance sources. Nothing wrong with that.

This proposal is a non starter from all angles (& almost certainly legally unenforceable as well)

[PanzerCommander]

jamieduff1981 said:

No, I'm saying the waiver of the right to complain is wrong. These venues do exist in a dynamic world and things do change including the venues themselves. A waiver of right to complain would preclude complaint if the venue increased their noise impact. THAT is stupid.

From that PoV I can see where you are coming from. However, something needs to be done these sorts of situations because on the other foot you can't persecute peoples "noisy hobbies" or indeed professional race meetings just because somebody new has moved in or the local council has been daft enough to allow a developer to build houses within the vicinity of a pre-existing source of noise.

What I hope from this petition is that something sensible will come out of it so that:

a) Somebody moves in next to a venue and complains but nothing has changed for xxx years then the complaint is thrown in the bin and they are told to sell up and move if they are unhappy – should have done your research.
b) Sensible siting of new housing developments away from noise sources or the developers rather than the venue owners that create the noise have to install noise fences – or heaven forbid plant some trees before the builds start so you get a natural sound break as the trees grow.
c) If the venue makes significant changes for no reason then that’s fine complaints can be upheld and the matter looked into and dealt with appropriately.
d) As part of the home buyer pack or whatever it is called that the seller has to provide anyway; all the major noise sources are listed (race tracks, airfields, industry…) and the less major (road closures for occasional rallies, hill climbs etc.) so that the buyer can make a conscious decision based on that and it makes further research easier.

[The Moose]

PanzerCommander said:

d) As part of the home buyer pack or whatever it is called that the seller has to provide anyway; all the major noise sources are listed (race tracks, airfields, industry…) and the less major (road closures for occasional rallies, hill climbs etc.) so that the buyer can make a conscious decision based on that and it makes further research easier.

That's not practical really, is it?

There's a road maybe 230m as the crow flies from my house (with other buildings between). Now, usually you can't hear much above background noise from there, however very occasionally, if the wind is blowing in the right direction, you can hear a police siren or a loud engine. Should that be listed?

What about nearer to London, the general hustle and bustle of London life?

At what point does something change from being a 'major' noise source to a 'less major' noise source?

It also needs to be considered that what some people consider to be a nuisance others aren't bothered about (church bells are a good example of this).

The point of the home buyers packs in general is that the answers should be relatively black or white. Do you have any ongoing disputes with a neighbour. This is either a yes or no answer. Subjective stuff can't go in legally binding documents such as your proposal.

I would imagine 5 minutes with Google would reveal a lot about noisy activities in that area - the issue is thinking of all the things that make noise. Hot air balloons haven't been mentioned yet. What about boats on a river? Or even the wier/lock on a river?

[Pothole]

Yet another stupidly worded petition which has no real hope of succeeding. Why do people bother writing this dross?

"There are innumerate cases of people knowingly moving within close proximity of motorsport venues, only to try to have their planning permission revoked or have them closed completely when they take exception to the noise. No, there aren't. All cases will be documented, you just think the word 'innumerate' makes your petition sound more important and valid when, in fact, it makes you look stupid because there's no such word. you mean innumerable.

It is extremely detrimental to the UK's motorsport heritage, when all the motorsport venues start disappearing.It WOULD be IF they DID start disappearing. This hasn't really happened yet, has it? Motorsport and the associated mechanical/engineering business is a key British export and second to none in the world of motorsports. How many of the aforementioned 'inunmmerate' cases have been about Motorsport engineering development? Oh, that's right, you've done no research so you can't say...millions, probably, eh?

As such, anyone who wishes to buy or rent a property within a determined distance of a motorsport venue should have to read and sign legislature that waives their right to complain about the noise from the nearby venue. Can members of the public actually sign "legislature"? Can anyone? A legislature is a decision-making organization, usually associated with national government, that has the power to enact, amend, and repeal laws. You mean "Legislation", perhaps. Can members of the public sign this? Oh, no! Not poor research and stupidity again?

If they do not wish to be bothered by something that was a fixture of the community long before they arrived, they should not move there in the first place. I actually agree with this, but it's kind of irrelevant given that the rest of the petition is basically gobbledegook.

[Monolakes]

The fact that someone "came to the nuisance", isn't a defence and there is case law going back to 1879. A nuisance is a nuisance even if the people there before hand didn't complain about it.

A recent case (which I imagine prompted the petition), went all the way to the Supreme Court https://www.supremecourt.uk/decided-cases/docs/UKS...