CIEH Excellence Awards 2026
Celebrate the outstanding achievements, innovation and dedication of environmental health professionals and teams. Share your story and be recognised on a national stage.
Noise Survey
Providing essential insight into the public health impacts of noise across England and Wales.
In England and Wales, the CIEH Noise Survey provides the only source of information on the vital contribution made by environmental health professionals working to resolve noise complaints.
Noise Complaint Data Briefing 2026
The Noise Complaint Data Briefing 2026 provides the most up-to-date national overview of noise complaints received between 1 October 2024 and 30 September 2025. It is the first dataset of its kind published by CIEH since 2020/2021 and includes several new categories of noise sources, reflecting the changing nature of the built environment and public health needs.
Key findings at a glance
- More than 305,000 noise complaints were recorded across England and Wales - around 850 complaints per day and a drop since 2021, which covered the period of the three COVID-19 lockdowns.
- There was a stark drop in the amount of enforcement action undertaken by Environmental Health Officers (EHOs), with only 2,282 abatement notices issued during the reporting period - a 72% decrease over 20 years.
- Just 190 prosecutions were lodged - a 71% drop compared with the equivalent period two decades ago.
- There were 125 complaints about air source heat pumps (ASHPs), with the highest number in the South West.
- There were 326 complaints about noise from holiday lets (e.g., Airbnbs), with the City of York reporting the highest number.
About the 2026 Noise Complaint Data Briefing
The Noise Complaint Data Briefing 2026 is based on data collected from local authorities between October 2025 and February 2026, covering complaints received from 1 October 2024 to 30 September 2025. With a 92% response rate, it is one of the most representative noise datasets CIEH has produced in recent years.
For the first time, the survey includes complaints about emerging noise sources such as ASHPs and short-term holiday lets.
Last year, fewer than 48% of local authorities responded to the voluntary noise survey, limiting the dataset's usefulness and affecting indicators in the Public Health Outcomes Framework. To improve the quality and consistency of national noise data, CIEH has consulted with UKHSA, DEFRA and other partners, refined the question set with input from Advisory Panels, included new noise sources and moved from a voluntary survey to a consistent FOI-based approach.
CIEH will continue to explore the implications of this year’s findings throughout spring 2026.
Call for written evidence
The CIEH Noise Complaint Data Briefing 2026 indicates shifts in historically-calculated data and introduces sources of noise complaints that are being measured for the first time in this format.
CIEH is now exploring the implications of the data presented in the briefing, and is inviting written evidence of up to 2000 words from stakeholders, environmental health practitioners, local authorities, academics, and others to help understand the new evidence and inform our ongoing work on noise and nuisance.
We welcome submissions addressing any or all of the following themes:
- What are the reasons for changes in the data? Our data suggests that noise complaint levels, and related enforcement, have decreased over time. This may not be your experience however. Do you have any evidence which either supports or challenges this? Is there evidence to suggest, for example:
- Improvements in noise insulation
- Reductions in noise caused in residential areas by, for example, road traffic, licensed premises or commercial or industrial activity?
- Changes in the provision of noise complaint services in local authorities
- Changes in the way in which noise complaints are handled
- Other factors
- What insights do you have about good practice emerging about the handling or recording of noise complaints?
- Do you have any comments about the prevalence or recording of emerging noise sources, such as air source heat pumps, short term lets or wind turbines?
- What policy priorities should CIEH be exploring, and where should Government’s priorities lie?
- What changes - whether legislative, procedural, or related to resources - would most effectively support your work in managing and resolving noise complaints?
- Are there metrics, definitions, or standardisation issues that should be considered for future data collection?
How to submit evidence
Please provide your written submission (including your name, organisation, and role) in either PDF or Word format, and send it to [email protected] by 30 April 2026.
Your submission should include full citations for references.
Your submission should be no longer than 2,000 words. If you would like to present a longer submission, please get in touch with us beforehand.
Submissions may be shared with relevant partners or used to support future CIEH publications and policy work. If you prefer your evidence to remain anonymous, please indicate this clearly.
Why is the noise survey so important?
Our noise survey provides the only source of regular national information on the important contribution made by EHPs working to resolve noise complaints.
The survey was referenced in the 2017 Chief Medical Officer annual report, which emphasised that "environmental noise comes second in burden of disease to air pollution and arguably is responsible for more disturbance of quality of life". Noise is the single largest issue of complaint made to local authorities in the UK, and over 80% of people report being exposed to noise pollution in their homes.
Past survey results
The 2020/21 England Noise Survey report was published in March 2022.
Key findings:
- A total of 356,367 noise complaints were recorded by 144 local authorities, on average 149 complaints for every 10,000 people
- 11,211 formal actions were taken by responding local authorities
- There were 88 noise-related prosecutions
- The average number of complaints per Full Time Equivalent Professional increased from 299 to 633
- There are 563 FTEs working at 144 local authorities to investigate and resolve noise complaints, on average 3.9 FTE per local authority
England
The report covers:
- The total number of noise complaints received
- The total number of notices served
- Other formal actions taken by local authorities
- Staffing levels for noise-related work
- The number of prosecutions
- Breakdowns of noise complaints by sector
- Breakdowns of data by region
Wales
Responses to the survey were received from all local authorities in Wales.
Key findings:
- Noise complaints 10% up on previous year ranging from 10 per 10,000 population in Anglesey to 177 per 10,000 population in Swansea
- 323 notices served (by 20 local authorities) under the Environmental Protection Act to deal with noise amounting to a statutory nuisance
- Formal action taken under other legislation to deal with noise in 22 cases (by five local authorities)
- Five simple cautions issued
- There were 34 noise-related prosecutions (eight local authorities)
- All but two local authorities reported that they were using the Noise App
- All but one local authority were using Matron monitoring equipment to assist with noise investigations
- Eleven out of 22 local authorities have arrangements in place to respond to noise complaints out of office hours
England
We collected data from 143 local authorities in England.
The report covers the same areas as the new 2019/20 report excluding other formal actions taken by Local Authorities.
Wales
All 22 local authorities in Wales responded to the survey, which is a response rate of 100%.
In total 18,567 noise complaints were recorded, which works out as 59 complaints for every 10,000 members of population. Noise from residential premises accounts for the largest proportion of noise complaints, while industrial noise accounts for the lowest proportion of noise complaints compared to other sectors.
