A neighbour made 225 recordings of dogs barking over a three-month period
A pet owner whose barking dogs made her neighbour's life a misery has been ordered to pay more than £1,500 for repeatedly ignoring warnings to keep the noise down. A court was told that a neighbour submitted a total of 225 recordings of the dogs barking within a three-month period.
Merthyr Tydfil Magistrates' Court heard that Keira Marsh, from Porth, continuously allowed her dogs to bark, causing distress to her neighbours. After Rhondda Cynon Taf Council received a number of sound recordings from the complainant an investigation was launched.
Environmental health officers visited the complainant’s property and witnessed the “continuous barking” for themselves. They were satisfied a statutory noise nuisance existed, which means that the noise was severe enough to cause prejudice to health and/or an unreasonable and persistent disturbance to interfere with a person's enjoyment of their property.
Marsh was then served with an abatement notice, which may require a person to stop the activity to avoid causing a nuisance. Get the latest Rhondda news first by signing up to our newsletter here.
But Marsh ignored repeated requests from the council to deal with the issue and failed to attend interviews at council offices.
After the 225 recordings of the barking over a three-month period was provided by the complainant the case went to court.
The council said the evidence “demonstrated that multiple dogs were left to bark for prolonged periods of time and the abatement notice had been breached”.
Marsh failed to attend the hearing at Merthyr Tydfil Magistrates' Court. She was found guilty in her absence of breaching the abatement notice on six separate occasions, thereby contravening section 80(4) of the Environmental Protection Act 1990.
Marsh received a £300 fine and was ordered to pay £1,115.27 in costs and a victim surcharge of £120 – totalling £1,535.27.
RCT cabinet member and councillor Bob Harris said: “The council's environmental health team investigates noise complaints and, when officers have evidenced the noise constitutes a statutory nuisance, we always try to work positively with the subject of the complaint to offer advice and guidance on how to deal with the issue.
“In this case the council's efforts to find a solution to the problem were repeatedly ignored leaving officers no other option than to prosecute.”
A council spokesman added: “The occasional bark or ‘woof' is usually not a problem for neighbours and others in the community but when barking becomes excessive it's often considered unacceptable and can materially interfere with use of a person’s property.
“The dog's welfare may also be compromised but the owner may not realise their dog has been barking if they're not around at that time.”
People are encouraged to speak to their owner about the issue and if that doesn't work to contact the council about the noise complaint.
