Hearing is believing
Recently, my postbag has been filling up with questions and comments from readers about noise problems.
These are not about the expected fall out from the smoking ban, but back on the age-old problem of music and entertainment.
There may be two reasons for this. The first is that more neighbours are being encouraged to complain — there has been a huge increase in noise complaints generally, as people turn to local authorities to help them. The second is that environmental health officers are taking a more proactive stance on the issue and seeking to impose what is called the "inaudibility" test on premises licences.
This simply means that they ask the licensing committee to impose a condition on the licence that any sound from entertainment in the pub premises must be inaudible inside the home of any neighbour. This, of course, does not rely on any metering or particular level or type of noise. It simply means that when you close the doors and windows in the house or flat in question, you cannot hear the music.
Quite rightly, the licensed trade has resisted the imposition of this condition whenever it can, on the grounds that it is simply unreasonable. If you stay very quiet in a building, cutting out any ambient noise, then sound such as this can be heard. But in the normal course of things it will be in he background and unobtrusive.
Under the Noise Act, which I mentioned a couple of months ago, there is a fixed maximum decibel level for noise measured inside a neighbour's premises. The level is different depending on the "ambient" noise level, which must be taken into account.
But if the inaudibility condition is on the licence, this presents a far greater difficulty. It simply means testimony from the environmental health officer that he "witnessed" the noise from within the premises and that constitutes a breach of condition on the licence, which can attract a fine of up to £20,000. Perhaps as importantly, it can lead to a ban on musical entertainment entirely in the premises in question.
There is no doubt that noise disturbance is, and will continue to be, a major issue for the licensed trade. It cannot be ignored, and those licensees who try to stop their own ears to complaints will undoubtedly face the consequences. The problem is that the matter is almost entirely subjective: some people cannot stand any sort of intrusive noise, while others will only complain when there is loud and persistent late-night disturbance that ought to be controlled.
The inaudibility test is favoured by many local authority practitioners for obvious reasons, but it ought to be resisted by the trade. While prevention of public nuisance is one of the licensing objectives, the tests for sound disturbance ought to be consistent and such a condition lays the licensee open to a whole raft of objections from neighbours on all sides. It is also very difficult to comply with — much more so than a fixed maximum decibel level for sound equipment, or a curfew for bands.
The provider of the entertainment has absolutely no way of discovering whether he is complying with the condition or not — he certainly will not be able to check for himself if the complainer is at odds with the pub.
It would be far better for local licensing committees to seek to reach some form of compromise and impose specific and workable conditions, if necessary, on the licence. Meanwhile, any licensee faced with this proposed condition should resist it as far as possible and offer other control measures as an alternative.
