public nuisance and outraging public decency - Law Commission

(fb) artificial light emitted from premises so as to be prejudicial
to health or a nuisance;] 103
… 104
(g) noise emitted from premises so as to be prejudicial to health
or a nuisance;
[(ga) noise that is prejudicial to health or a nuisance and is
emitted from or caused by a vehicle, machinery or equipment
in a street … 105 ;] 106
(h) any other matter declared by any enactment to be a statutory
nuisance.
2.55 The normal procedure for dealing with a statutory nuisance is for the local
authority to serve an abatement notice: it is required to do this as soon as
possible after notification of the nuisance, though it sometimes delays for up to
seven days to allow the offending proprietor to deal with the problem. A private
individual may also apply to a magistrates’ court for an abatement order. Failure
to comply with an abatement order is an offence, though there is no offence of
“statutory nuisance” as such. Given these powers, local authorities seldom if
ever deal with statutory nuisances by way of injunctions.
2.56 The other main mechanism is the making of local authority byelaws, 107 where
again the statutory power specifically refers to the suppression of nuisances;
there are also powers to make byelaws under other statutes. “Nuisances” in this
context appear to cover offensive or inconvenient behaviour as well as
environmental nuisances. At present breach of a byelaw is a summary offence
which must be prosecuted in court, though the penalty is in some instances a
fixed one. The Department of Communities and Local Government is currently
consulting on a new procedure, to be introduced by regulations, allowing local
authorities to make byelaws on certain subjects without confirmation by the
Secretary of State, and allowing those byelaws to be enforced by on-the-spot
fines. 108
2.57 Local authorities have the power to apply for injunctions against any offence that
might affect local residents, as well as against non-criminal wrongs which might
amount to a nuisance. 109 Examples include Sunday trading, breaches of
planning law, breaches of tree preservation orders, breaches of noise abatement
notices, unlicensed street trading, unlicensed sex shops, breach of trading
102 Words omitted extend to Scotland only.
103 Inserted by Clean Neighbourhoods and Environment Act 2005 s 101(1) and (2).
104 Words omitted extend to Scotland only.
105 Words omitted extend to Scotland only.
106 Inserted by Noise and Statutory Nuisance Act 1993 s 2(1) and (2)(b).
107 Local Government Act 1972 s 235 and following.
108 http://www.communities.gov.uk/publications/localgovernment/byelaws.
109 Local Government Act 1972 s 222.
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