Nuisance management - noise, dust, odour, pollution, waste
Sometimes activities undertaken by others impact on residents and members of the community.
We may be able to help you resolve the issue if the activities fail to comply with the conditions of a permit or are determined to be excessive or a nuisance under the Public Health and Wellbeing Act 2008.
A nuisance may relate to noise, dust, odours, pollution and waste. It must be offensive or dangerous to health, not just annoying.
Determining what constitutes a nuisance is varied and open to legal interpretation.
Residential nuisances such as noise, odour and other pollution that are coming from a residential property are handled by our authorised officers.
We may look into nuisance management when the offending property is a business or commercial site.
A number of issues are assessed in determining a nuisance, including:
- Planning permits - are the activities outside the permit which was issued for the business? If this is so, the matter may be referred to our planning department.
- Environmental Protection Authority - has the EPA issued a permit or is it responsible/monitoring the activities?
- Is the nuisance ongoing, dangerous to health or offensive and impacting?
If, after investigation, a nuisance is found to exist, we will work with the property owner to rectify the situation, possibly through enforcement.
We do not have authority to take action against a nuisance that is perceived to be annoying. These matters should be resolved privately or with the assistance of the Dispute Resolution Centre of Victoria.