CIEH Noise Management Conference

Alistair Somerville, Immediate Past President, IOA.  Alistair is an Honorary Fellow of the IOA and their Immediate Past President. He is also a Past-President of the Royal Environmental Health Institute of Scotland. He holds a Masters Degree in Acoustics, Vibration and Noise Control.

He has forty years experience in Acoustics and Environmental Health through regulation and enforcement, consultancy, and education. As a lecturer at Heriot Watt University he wrote and delivered an Environmental Noise & Vibration module for their MSc course. Since 2013 he has been an acoustic consultant and educator.

Pastimes include music, golf and sharing a good bottle of red!

Anthony Robinson, Principal Officer Noise and Acoustics at Westminster City Council. Anthony began his career in Local Government in 2008 specialising in pollution and noise control. His current role involves regulation of the Tideway and HS2 megaprojects as well as major construction projects across Westminster under the CoCP. Anthony is heavily involved with planning policy and complex statutory nuisance investigations for enforcement and prosecutions. Anthony represents Westminster on the Gym Acoustic Guidance and Good Practice Guide for Noise Control at Outdoor Concerts Working Groups. Anthony also carries out private consultancy work for acoustic consultants including event noise control, planning and NIA’s.

Benjamin Fenech PhD MSc MIOA, Team Leader at UK Health Security Agency. For the past ten years Benjamin has been leading the UK Health Security Agency’s (and its predecessor Public Health England) noise and public health programme. His main role is to provide expert advice on the health effects of noise across government. He also collaborates with a broad range of stakeholders to develop and disseminate the scientific evidence base more widely. Most recently he oversaw the first spatial assessment of the attributable burden of disease due to transportation noise in England. Benjamin is currently chair of the Institute of Acoustics Sound, Noise and Health Group, chair of the Policy and Economics Team within the International Commission on the Biological Effects of Noise, and project leader of a new international standard ISO/TS 16755-1 Non-acoustic factors.

Cerise Reynolds, Noise and Statutory Policy Team, Defra.  Cerise has over ten years experience within the Civil Service and throughout her extensive career has gained a wealth of experience in the policy profession with a number of roles, which includes International policy and Private Pensions policy. She has also honed her operational delivery and project delivery skills, as a project manager on an award-winning team.

Since joining the Defra Noise and Statutory Nuisance Policy Team in August 2021, she has been supporting the delivery of the Environmental Noise (England) Regulations, wider noise and statutory nuisance policy functions and working on the development of the new noise mapping tool.

Daniel Bayles, Principal Environmental Public Health Scientist, Noise and Public Health. UK Health Security Agency. Daniel is an Acoustician, a Chartered Environmental Health Practitioner and a Chartered Manager. He was formerly on the CIEH Assembly of Representatives. He has worked at local authorities across the southeast most recently as the interim Environmental Protection Lead at Havant BC. He has dealt with noise complaints ranging from Midwife toads to permitted processes. Major developments he has advised on include the CB1 development around Cambridge station. He now works in the Noise and Public Health Team at the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA). His current research interests include the health impacts of noise from renewable energy.

Prof David Waddington, President, Institute of Acoustics (IoA). David is Professor in Acoustics at the University of Salford. His main research interests are the objective and subjective evaluation of noise and vibration, and environmental acoustics. For many years he was the programme leader for Salford MSc in Environmental Acoustics, member of the Examination Committee for the Institute of Acoustics Diploma in Acoustics and Noise Control, and the expert examiner for the Environmental Noise Measurement, Prediction and Control specialist module. From March 2019 to August 2021, David held the senior management role of Associate Dean Enterprise and Engagement in the School of Science, Engineering and Environment at the University of Salford. He believes that by pioneering exceptional industry partnerships, real world experiences will prepare students for life. David has written over 85 papers on noise and vibration and is well known for assembling large collaborative teams for large-scale field work projects, human response to vibration and sound, and his expert presentations on the effects of weather and uncertainty on environmental noise measurements. He has been a Member of the Acoustics Society of America (MASA) and a Member of the Institute of Acoustics (MIOA) for more than 30 years.

Jack Harvie-Clark, Founder and Managing Director of Apex Acoustics Ltd. Apex is a leading and award-winning consultancy in acoustics & air quality, with 27 consultants. Jack has recently proposed a significant revision to the guidelines for managing transportation noise affecting residential development in BS 8233; the proposals, co-authored with Ben Fenech, UKHSA, were presented at the IOA Acoustics 24 conference. Jack was the acoustics advisor to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) for the recent updates of Parts F and O of the Building Regulations, and was a major author of the Acoustics, Ventilation, Overheating: Residential Design Guide.

Kate Hughes, Environmental Health Practitioner for Halton Borough Council. After graduating from the University of Salford Kate has worked in the fields of Environmental Protection and Housing for 16 years. Kate holds the Diploma in Acoustics and Noise Control from the Institute of Acoustics and is also a qualified Animal Licensing inspector. Having worked broadly across these disciplines, she has vast knowledge and experience of enforcement across many areas including statutory nuisance, housing, dangerous dogs and dangerous wild animals! Kate has a keen interest in statutory nuisance investigations in both commercial and domestic settings. In particular, she has has used anti-social behaviour legislation to help develop innovative ways of dealing with complex cases of non-compliance with abatement notices.

Martin Wood, Principal Noise Control Officer, London Borough of Brent. Martin Wood, with 25 years working in environmental health, has served at Manchester City and Brent Councils, specialising in nuisance and pollution control. Holding a BSc in Environmental Health and a Certificate in Environmental Noise Management, he has effectively utilised The Noise App to transform his team's approach to noise complaints.

Paul McCullough, Environmental Health Manager (Environmental Protection), Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon Borough Council. A chartered Environmental Health Practitioner with 24 years' experience in the area of neighbourhood and industrial/commercial noise. He is a Member of the Environmental Protection Advisory Panel of the Chartered Institute of Environmental Health and a Member of the Irish Branch Committee of the Institute of Acoustics. His current role involves managing a team of Environmental Health Officers responding to complaints of domestic, commercial, industrial, leisure and entertainment noise etc. Paul is also engaged as a technical consultee to the Council's Planning Department with a view to making developments more sustainable in terms of noise and reducing the potential for adverse impact at the design stage. Paul previously worked for Belfast City Council and worked on a night-time noise service operating between 20:00 hrs and 04:00 hrs, making extensive use of the Noise Act powers to resolve issues as and when they were occurring. He has presented evidence to the Stormont Inquiry on Wind Energy Development on behalf of the Chartered Institute of Environmental Health.

Peter Wilson MSc MIOA, Technical Director, Industrial Noise and Vibration Centre. Peter has spent 40 years honing his practical skills in the field of noise and vibration engineering and has acquired a considerable reputation for developing innovative noise control techniques, including award winning fan noise control technology.He also developed the acclaimed IOSH noise competency course, noise training for the English, Scottish and Irish Environment Agencies and a range of popular workshops run regularly for EHOs. He also provided technical support for the updated Irish EA noise guidance. An entertaining and sometimes controversial presenter, he has a refreshingly pragmatic and practical approach to the subject and is in demand as a speaker at national and international conferences (BOHS, EEF, IOM, IOSH etc).

Robert Halford BSc EnvHealth, MSc EnvSciences, DipIOA, Founder and Managing Director of RHE Global. Rob qualified in 1984 and through a successful career in local government and in consulting, is well-versed in all aspects of Environmental Health. Rob's passion for Environmental Health is the reason why his company remains focused on supporting front-line professionals.

Ruth Waite, Policy Lead, Noise and Statutory Nuisance Team, Defra. Ruth leads the policy side of the Noise and Statutory Nuisance Team at Defra. After completing a PhD in environmental microbiology at the University of Leeds, she started her career at the Central Science Laboratory before moving to HSE, where she spent many years working in pesticide regulation. She joined Defra six years ago, working in a range of areas including chemicals, pesticides and antimicrobial resistance before bringing her wide experience to the Noise team. Outside of work, Ruth loves music, films and reading, and lives with her family and cat near York.

Somayya Yaqub, Head of Corporate Health and Safety, Ealing Council, London Borough of Ealing. Somayya serves as a Non-Executive Director at Broadway Living Limited. She is an expert safety manager with over 15 years' diverse experience of safety and environmental risk management including construction, facilities management, housing, offices and waste management. She also has numerous years' experience in a variety of local government roles with emphasis on environmental health, including air quality, pollution and nuisance mitigation. She has thorough experience of large-scale regeneration projects and design risk mitigation. She has given evidence at planning enquirires and court cases. She is also co-author of the Professional Planning Guidance document to supplement the National Planning Policy framework, a member of the Institute of Acoustics Environmental Noise Committee and a Member of the CIEH Environmental Protection panel.

Stephen Turner, Vice President, Chartered Institute of Environmental Health (CIEH) and a former President of the Institute of Acoustics (IOA). Stephen has worked in the field of acoustics, noise and vibration for over 47 years in both the public and private sector. He has worked on a wide range of environmental and building acoustics projects, including noise from aviation, highways, railways and construction. He has prepared and presented evidence for Public Inquiries, litigation and Parliamentary Select Committees. For 15 years he was a technical advisor to the noise policy officials at Defra and its predecessors, including four years as a Civil Servant until 2015. Work included providing technical input to a wide range of specific and strategic policy issues, including briefing Ministers, liaising with Other Government Departments, Local Authorities, the European Commission and the European Environment Agency. In addition, he had a close involvement in the drafting of the Noise Policy Statement for England (NPSE); the noise elements of National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF), and the Planning Practice Guidance on noise (PPG(N)). More recently, he has been mainly involved in providing independent peer review for major infrastructure projects and Government research. In 2023, he gave oral evidence, on behalf of the IOA, to the House of Lords Science and Technology Committee during their Inquiry into the Effects of Artificial Light and Noise on human health. He is a member of the European Commission’s Noise Expert Group and the European Environment Agency’s Expert Panel on Noise. He sits on several British Standards Committees and chairs the BSI committee on transportation noise. He is an Honorary Fellow of the IOA and a Director of Stephen Turner Acoustics Limited.

Dr Tim Everett LLB LLM PhD FCIEH CMCIH FRSPH CEnv, trainer and researcher in Environmental Health law. Tim also has postgraduate qualifications in law, business administration, and air and water pollution control. He is a Chartered Environmental Health Practitioner and was the President of CIEH from 2015-2017. He is also a Member of UKELA. He is and has been a trustee of national and local charities, taking a particular interest in legal and governance issues. His last Local Government post was as Strategic Director for two District Councils, where he was responsible for a range of joint services. He was the Chair of a statutory Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnership and was a member of county-wide Community Safety and Safeguarding Boards during this time. He has also worked for four London Boroughs, the City of Swansea, and was a national adviser on Environmental Protection to the LGA for over 10 years. He was a Non-Executive Director of an NHS national body and served on two committees of the Health Protection Agency. He was a Samaritans listener for over 10 years and retains a strong interest in mental health issues. He was also an adviser to his local CAB for over 10 years.