Southsea woman takes city council to court amid complaints that sea defence construction is a 'noise disturbance'

Portsmouth City Council was taken to court last week following a summons from a Southsea resident about noise disturbances from the South Coastal Scheme.

The scheme involves large rocks being dropped onto the Southsea shorline to create a natural flood defence - but Miss Julia Pilkington, who was prosecuting the city council, claimed there were more than 100 'noisy nights' over seven months, recording the noise on her phone. The Southsea resident took the matter to court in hopes of getting a prohibition order against night work.

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As the trial reached its final day at Portsmouth Magistrates Court, the court heard how the average noise was below the accepted threshold, but peaked above this on a number of occasions. The work was carried out overnight on occasions that coincided with the tide, sparking dozens of complaints from residents.

Giving evidence, director of RBA Acoustics Torben Andersen said: 'Its worth clarifying the values are what we call a threshold for potential significant effect. Just peaking above this doesn't mean there is a significant effect, but that we should look at whether there is an issue.

'If this was happening for eight hours a night for seven days, there could be an issue - but half an hour here or there is not a noise disturbance. Looking back I would say this case is not a disturbance.'

City council solicitors suggested that Miss Pilkington could sleep in her second bedroom at the back of her property to mitigate noise, sparking an audible scoff from the complainant, who was shaking her head as evidence was given. She claimed that on multiple occasions the work was happening all night long.

The court also heard that the nights Miss Pilkington recorded alleged noise disturbances were not checked for decibel peaks on the city council's own monitoring system.

Representing Pilkington, solicitor Charles Parry said: 'If this research had been done, it's possible that there would have been some sort of unity between the measurements.

'There were a number of transactions taking place. A higher noise might disrupt a person's sleep and that in itself could be a disturbance.

'Not speaking legally, it's an aggrevation. The key is communication with nearby affected residents and in this case, that has broken down.'

Mr Andersen responded: 'If I was woken up by a loud noise I would potentially be annoyed, but it's not a disturbance.

'A single peak is not legally a disturbance - construction sites by their very nature are full of percussive noise. It's about the number of peaks and their magnitude.'

Miss Pilkington recorded a total of 101 incidents where the noise peaked above what had been approved via planning permission.

According to the city council, the work on this segment on the project has been completed, and subsequent works will neither be as loud nor require as much overnight work. Known as the Long Curtain Moat, that section has now been reopened.

Portsmouth City Council's solicitors argued that Miss Pilkington had no expert evidence, and that if the problem was that serious they would have reveived more than the 50 complaints they have had so far - 19 of which came from Miss Pilkington herself.

Presiding district judge, David Robinson, concluded that there was not sufficient evidence for a prohibition order to be implemented.

He said: 'I am satisfied that the work might cause sleeplessness and being capable of being detrimental to health – but there is no expert evidence before the court, so we cannot prove that.

‘In my view, the prosecution has not proven to a criminal standard that the noise was so loud, or frequent, that it would be likely to cause injury. It is therefore not necessary for the court to make a prohibition order.’

A suggestion was made by the district judge that Miss Pilkington might have ‘sensitive hearing’, and advised her to keep her windows closed during night works. The court also heard how Miss Pilkington has previously made noise complaints about Victorious Festival and other music events.

Speaking outside of court, Miss Pilkington said: 'I am very angry – to me, 50 complaints is an awful lot and there are probably more people who have complained to their local councillor about it too.

‘A group of people had to come together to fight one person on this, and I think that speaks volumes. I didn't want to stop the works outright, just what’s happening overnight – which is when most of the work has been happening.’

Cabinet member for culture, leisure and economic development at Portsmouth City Council, Cllr Steve Pitt, said: ‘This scheme is on a tight budget and time schedule, so there are no brakes on this – we have to get on with it. Sometimes the rocks had to be loaded in at night due to the tide and there were permissions granted for that.

'The reaction from most residents has been overwhelmingly positive, especially on social media. This project will protect thousands of homes and businesses throughout Southsea that would otherwise be at risk of flooding, so while disruption is inevitable it’s also vital that the work gets done.

‘At the moment everything is on schedule so that’s great; that being said, we do take any complaints seriously and it’s appropriate that we do so.’