High Court judge hands down ruling on remedies over noise nuisance from multi-use games area

A parish council that lost a High Court case on noise from a multi-use games area and skate park need not demolish the facilities but must reduce the disturbance they cause.

That ruling came from Mr Justice Turner when he considered remedies for local residents who had complained about the facility owned by Chapel-En-Le-Frith Parish Council.

He had in July overturned District Judge McGarva decision to dismiss their application for an abatement order for statutory noise nuisance.

DJ McGarva had held there was a sharp legal distinction between noise generated from the area’s intended use for games and skating and that from anti-social activities.

But Turner J decided this was wrong as consideration should have been given to the health impact of any noise from the site regardless of whether it resulted from its intended use or anti-social behaviour.

Since it was impermissible to distinguish between intended and anti-social noise, it was also impermissible to treat anti-social noise, in part, as a cause of hypersensitivity such as to negate a finding of nuisance, Turner J said.

Turning to ruling on remedies, he said in Jones & Ors v Chapel-En-Le-Frith Council [2022] EWHC 2709 (KB) the three claimants had asked him to order the council to abate the noise nuisance by 28 February by carrying out “works necessary for that purpose including removing all the [games area] and skate park equipment and further prevent its recurrence by permanently grassing over the relevant areas of land”.

The council resisted this since not all noise amounted to a nuisance and so abatement did not require the facility’s removal.

Turner J said his findings “do not lead inevitably to the conclusion that removal of the [games area] and skate park equipment would be mandated by a finding that there was a noise nuisance arising from the inclusion of the consideration of unintended use”.

He said a general abatement order was the correct remedy leaving it for the council to decide how this should be implemented.

Mark Smulian