Light, Air and Noise Pollution

Light pollution can be intrusive to others. It usually happens from the use of artificial lighting, such as street lights or garden lighting.

In some cases when light is emitted it can be seen as damaging to health or a nuisance.

The council has a duty to investigate all complaints regarding this issue.

If we feel the level of light present does constitute a nuisance we are able to deal with it under the Environmental Protection Act 1990 and the Clean Neighborhoods and Environment Act 2005.

Contact the Environmental Health team to discuss concerns about light pollution.

Air Pollution

Egglescliffe School, Eaglescliffe

Stockton Council's Cowpen Depot, Billingham

Nelson Terrace, A1305 roadside, Stockton

The information collected is used to produce the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs' daily air quality bulletins. (Scroll down about half way through the page to find the North East report).

As well as reporting air quality we also work in partnership with the Environment Agency to assess the impact of industrial emissions on the local air quality.

If you have any queries or concerns regarding air quality please contact 01642 526585.

Air Pollution Banding	Value	Accompanying Health Messages For At-Risk Groups & The General Population
Air Pollution Banding	Value	At Risk Individuals *	General Population
Low	1 - 3	Enjoy your usual outdoor activities
Moderate	4 - 6	Adults and children with lung problems, and adults with heart problems, who experience symptoms, should consider reducing strenuous physical activity, particularly outdoors.	Enjoy your usual outdoor activities.
High	7 - 9	Adults and children with lung problems, and adults with heart problems, should reduce strenuous physical exertion, particularly outdoors, and particularly if they experience symptoms. People with asthma may find they need to use their reliever inhaler more often. Older people should also reduce physical exertion.	Enjoy your usual outdoor activities.
Very High	10	Adults and children with lung problems, adults with heart problems, and older people, should avoid strenuous physical activity. People with asthma may find they need to use their reliever inhaler more often.	Reduce physical exertion, particularly outdoors, especially if you experience symptoms such as cough or sore throat

*Adults and children with heart or lung problems are at greater risk of symptoms. Follow your doctor's usual advice about exercising and managing your condition. It is possible that very sensitive individuals may experience health effects even on low air pollution days.

Visit the Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs website for additional information about air quality.

View the Tees Valley Air Quality Annual Report for 2016.

View the Air Quality Annual Status Report (ASR) 2017.

Noise Pollution

Noise is unwanted sound and can cause annoyance, irritation and disturbed sleep. The Environmental Health team have certain legal powers to deal with noise problems and can deal with noise complaints from a variety of activities including:

Domestic sources e.g. barking dogs, amplified music, DIY noise, intruder alarms

Industrial sources e.g. noisy fans, generators

Commercial sources e.g. entertainment noise

Construction Sites e.g. noise from building /demolition works

Certain noise in streets from vehicles, machinery and equipment

To report noise pollution, please use our noise services form.

Out of Hours Noise Complaint service: 01642 528034

Intruder alarms

Where an intruder alarm is sounding continuously for 20 minutes, or intermittently for more than an hour at an address, our officers may try and find the key holder (depending on the time of day),

If the key holder is not found, officers will silence the alarm from the exterior of the property. The costs incurred as a result of this work will be charged to the property owner.

To prevent this type of action you should leave details of key holders with a neighbour or relative and inform us of your arrangements.

Prevention is better than cure

As well as dealing with complaints of noise we also do a lot of preventative work to stop noise occurring, these include:

Assessment of the impact of noise of new developments under the Development Control (Planning) system by imposing strict noise conditions on developers.

Assessment of the noise impact of certain industrial processes.

Prior Consent for Construction/Demolition works where hours of operation and noise conditions can be imposed to minimise the impact from this activity.