A Harlow woman has been fined £220 as well as a £44 victim surcharge for noise nuisance over excessively loud dance music being played from their home. 

Complaints had been received from residents in Arkwrights of six and a half hours of music in one instance, which led to an investigation by environmental health officers.  

Officers witnessed the bass-heavy noise coming from the home of Laura Featley -she was in breach of a previously issued noise abatement notice. 

Legal proceedings were dealt Single Justice Procedure (SJP), which is used for minor criminal offences and meant there was no physical hearing. 

The court found Miss Featley guilty of breaching the noise abatement notice and issued a fine as well as a victim surcharge and costs of £293.17. 

Commenting on the case, Councillor Alastair Gunn, portfolio holder for environment, said: “This is an excellent result for the council in dealing with someone who has continued to make their neighbours’ lives difficult through excessive noise. 

“ It will have been highly stressful for them to have to put up with the noise at the extreme levels and for the durations we are talking about here – that the resident continued to subject her neighbours to nuisance noise even after being issued with an abatement notice is just unacceptable. 

“I want to give thanks to the Environmental Health and Legal teams who have, once again, partnered up to bring a successful conclusion to this case.  

“We want Harlow to be an enjoyable town in which to live and for our residents to respect one another – however, we will not hesitate to act when a nuisance is being caused which affects their quality of life.” 
 
You can report nuisance noise of various types to the council at Harlow Council's website.