noise from newly installed air-con in a business property

koolkat66

My local telephone exchange has recently installed a new air-con system to maintain the equipment at the right temperture. The newly installed fans are about 10m from my windows and are on 24h, day and night. They were in a diffent part of the building before. Apparently the noise is not that loud on ground floor, in front of the fans, but I am two floors above, directly in front, and it is very audible in my home. The council paid a visit and regarded it as satutory noise disturbance. Following two weeks of toing and froing, finally today an engineer called and reduced the fans speed of nearly half. Unfortunately they sound as loud as before. I will call the council back for another assessment, but I worry that they may not take further action, given that I aready sensed they reluctance to serve a noise abatment order - which I understand, as it is probably a long and costly porcess. As the air- con cannot be switched off (the equipment would suffer if it gets too hot) what are the option to reduce the noise on industrial air-con units? Also, weren't they supposed to assess the impact of noise on a residential area before the installation, and can I request a copy of their assessment?

Thank you for any advice.

davidmcn

They would (almost certainly) have needed planning permission, which would have considered the noise impact - worthwhile checking that.

ripplyuk

davidmcn wrote: »

They would (almost certainly) have needed planning permission, which would have considered the noise impact - worthwhile checking that.

David, if planning has been granted, is there nothing else that can be done? I ask because I have an elderly relative in a similar position to the OP.

davidmcn

ripplyuk wrote: »

David, if planning has been granted, is there nothing else that can be done? I ask because I have an elderly relative in a similar position to the OP.

It may still be a noise nuisance irrespective of planning, I was just suggesting another angle. The council can come to different views depending on which hat they're wearing.

Oxid8uk

For an outfit like a telephone exchange I would have expected that planning permission would have been required and that a noise assessment would have had to have been carried out. Is there anything on your councils planning portal?

koolkat66

Oxid8uk, do you mean that their plnning permission would be uploaded to the council portal?

koolkat66

Oxid8uk wrote: »

For an outfit like a telephone exchange I would have expected that planning permission would have been required and that a noise assessment would have had to have been carried out. Is there anything on your councils planning portal?

I have just checked now and I found a planning application request for the removal of a ground floor glass window - it is just next to the air-con. It has been submitted today. But the removal was 2 weeks ago, togther with the installation of the air-con, which does not appear on the planning application request

Oxid8uk

koolkat66 wrote: »

Oxid8uk, do you mean that their plnning permission would be uploaded to the council portal?

Yes, and if noise assessment has been carried out then this should also be on there.

koolkat66

Oxid8uk wrote: »

Yes, and if noise assessment has been carried out then this should also be on there.

Yes, I just found it. There was an assesment carried out. What I can see is that they measured the sound impact from the nearest point that they could access, which is the corner of the building, as they did not have keys to go in the communal space. This point is 33m from the source, while I am 19m away, and I am the nearest property. They measured from the ground floor, and there is a thick brick wall between their position and the source, whereas I have no wall, I am just directly above the source

da_rule

So is the application still live? If so, you could lodge an objection? If not then you may be too late.

It is also worth noting that telecoms providers are statutory undertakers so do not need to comply with certain planning requirements. This means that in some circumstances they don’t need permission they just need to notify the planning authority that they have/plan to carry out works.

koolkat66

da_rule wrote: »

So is the application still live? If so, you could lodge an objection? If not then you may be too late.

It is also worth noting that telecoms providers are statutory undertakers so do not need to comply with certain planning requirements. This means that in some circumstances they don’t need permission they just need to notify the planning authority that they have/plan to carry out works.

I think it may be too late. I can access the application but there are no link to make comments.