Western Morning News 24 July 2003

24/07/2003

Question:
I am a partner in an accountancy firm in Plymouth. Next door to us is being developed and frankly the noise is unbearable, meaning we cannot concentrate on our number crunching. Also my female staff are being whistled at as they come to work and have complained to me about it. Is there anything I can do?

Answer:
The short answer is that you do not have to grin and bear the noise and you should take steps to protect your staff from the unwanted abuse. Many people think that developing a site gives them carte blanche to be as noisy as they like provided they operate within the terms of the planning permission. In fact a developer should use all reasonable means to minimise the nuisance to neighbours. If there is a way of doing the work more quietly, even if it would cost more, the developer should consider it and adopt the method if it can be considered as industry best practice. My advice is don’t suffer in silence! As far as the harassment goes in my view you should immediately contact the site manager and if that doesn’t work the local authority. Ultimately if the behaviour was repeated an injunction could be obtained.