Noise nuisance can be a blight

Council officers have investigated a complaint about cockerels crowing throughout the night at a farm in Radlett.

A neighbour to Battlers Green Farm in Common Lane complained that the cockerel noise was going on for hours at a time in the middle of the night, seriously affecting their quality of life. Following the complaint, made in February, officers investigated and when visiting the site in the early hours of the morning, heard the continuous crowing, and deemed this to be unreasonable.

As a result the council issued a noise abatement notice on the farm. This means that the owner of the cockerels needs to ensure that the bird noise stops disturbing others as far as is reasonably possible.

The birds have not been ordered to go, as has been misreported, and providing no further complaints are received after 20 August it is expected they will stay.

Cllr Jean Heywood, portfolio holder for environment, explained: "We do have some sympathy for both sides in this case. Is it reasonable for a cockerel to be crowing on a farm? Well yes, of course, and if it was just as the sun rose at dawn then it probably wouldn’t be an issue. But in this case the problem is that it is continuous crowing for hours at a time throughout the night and this isn’t reasonable. Noise nuisance can be a real blight for those who are affected by it.

“The owner doesn’t have to get rid of the birds - he just has to do something so they don’t continue to cause a noise nuisance at the same level or frequency so as to continue to be a nuisance to neighbours. That could be moving them to a different part of the farm, covering them in an aviary at night or re-introducing some screening to act as a barrier, for example. Re-homing them is another option and we have given a few suggestions as to places which may take them. We have never suggested they be destroyed and would never do so."

The abatement notice to stop the noise runs out on 20 August, the council having already agreed to extend this to allow the owner further time to resolve the problem. If any further complaints are made after that then the council does have the powers to seize the birds and would then re-home them.

“We don’t expect it will come to that - it is not something we have had to do before as the issue has always been resolved before it has got to that stage," added Cllr Heywood.