Expert Testimony Proves Kennels Is Not A Noise Nuisance

The Challenge

Solicitors Foskett Marr Gadsby & Head contacted ACC (then Belair research) to assist in the defence of a kennels that had been served with an Abatement Notice concerning a Noise Nuisance.

Our Work

Our initial assessment concluded that as the complaints originated not from nearby residents, but from a dwelling much further away where the noise level from the dogs was therefore much quieter. The Environmental Health Officer (EHO) who issued the notice claimed that the noise level at the complainant’s dwelling (several hundred meters from the kennel) was sufficient to give the EHO a migraine. Our primary role was to demonstrate clear evidence to the Magistrates that the EHO was incorrect: although the barking was clearly audible, it was not a nuisance.

To ensure the magistrates sufficiently understood the complexities of the acoustic issue, we invented the acoustic parameter “woofs per minute” to demonstrate that the sound of multiple dogs at the distant kennels was no louder than the sound of only one or two dogs at a dwelling the same distance away.

The Result

The appeal was upheld, the Magistrates agreed this was not a nuisance and the kennels recovered their legal costs.