Noise Ban

[slacker]

Irregular News for 01.08.07

 

United Kingdom -- A council has ordered a man to move a tiny wind chime from his back garden following an investigation that cost more than £1,000.

 

David Bavington was stunned to receive an official letter claiming that the 1in- diameter chime was a 'statutory nuisance' following a complaint.

 

And he was warned he had to take it down - or be served with a noise abatement order and face legal action.

 

Ironically Mr Bavington, 57, and his wife Sheila bought the chime to create a feeling of calm while they were sitting in the garden of their £300,000 detached home in Ryton-on-Dunsmore, Warwickshire, with noisy airliners flying overhead on final approach to Coventry airport just over a mile away.

 

But, instead, it has landed them in a two-month legal row with officials at Rugby Borough Council, which has spent £1,000 writing letters, phoning the couple and sending two officers out to listen to the chime because of a complaint that it tinkled too loudly in windy weather.

 

Now the couple have agreed to move it 15ft from their garden fence on to an apple tree as a compromise solution to settle the dispute and end the legal action.

 

Retired sales executive Mr Bavington said: "You can't even hear the chime if you go inside the house. But the council said there had been a complaint from someone who was annoyed by the tinkling. I told them it was ridiculous. Sending around officers to listen to a tiny wind chime is a complete waste of taxpayers' money."

 

But Sean Lawson, head of environment for the council, said officers had a duty to investigate every complaint.

 

"It does cost a lot of money - about £1,000 for something like this - but it is our job. People become very concerned about noises or anything else that intrudes into their lives from their neighbours' gardens."

 

The Bavingtons' next-door neighbour, Robin Trigger, refused to say whether he had made the complaint. He added: "I have absolutely no comment to make."

 

source

[bennychico11]

ridiculous.

now they just need to ban mowing lawns, using a drill, people talking outside, dogs barking, children crying, etc.

[AR Husker Fan]

What's odd is that neigbors complain about the chime, but the jets flying overhead don't bother them...

[Drowning_in_the_Sea_of_Red]

I, myself, have been driven insane by the sound of a pin dropping......