Hillingdon Council Cabinet Member and Officer Decisions
Out of Hours Nuisance Service – Review & Redesign
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Democratic Services
Location: Phase II
Ext: 0692
DDI: 01895 250692
CMD No: 1556
To: COUNCILLOR EDDIE LAVERY
CABINET MEMBER FOR COMMUNITY &
ENVIRONMENT
c.c. All Members of th e Residents Services Select
Committee
c.c. Dan Kennedy – Corporate Director of Residents
Services
c.c. Stephanie Waterford – Residents Services
Directorate
c.c. Richard Webb – Residents Services Directorate
Date: 07 November 2025
Non-Key Decision request Form D
OUT OF HOURS NUISANCE SERVICE – REVIEW & RE-DESIGN
Dear Cabinet Members,
Attached is a report requesting that a decision be made by you as an individual Cabinet
Member. Democratic Services confirm that this is not a key decision, as such, the Local
Authorities (Executive Arrangements) (Meetings and Access to Information) (England)
Regulations 2012 notice period does not apply.
You should take a decision on or after Monday 17 November 2025 in order to meet
Constitutional requirements about publication of decisions that are to be made. You may
wish to discuss the report with the Corporate Director before it is made. Please indicate your
decision on the duplicate memo supplied and return it to me when you have made your
decision. I will then arrange for the formal notice of decision to be published.
Ryan Dell
Democratic Services
Title of Report: Out of Hours Nuisance Service – Review & Re-Design
Decision made:
Reasons for your decision: (e.g. as stated in report)
Alternatives considered and rejected: (e.g. as stated in report)
Signed ……………………………………………………… Date……………………..
Cabinet Member for Community & Environment
Cabinet Member Report – 07 November 2025 Page 1
Part I – Public
OUT OF HOURS NUISANCE SERVICE – REVIEW & RE-DESIGN
Cabinet Member &
Portfolio
Councillor Eddie Lavery
Cabinet Member for Community & Environment
Responsible Officer Dan Kennedy, Corporate Director Residents Services
Report Author &
Directorate
Stephanie Waterford/ Richard Webb
Residents Services Directorate
Papers with report Equalities Impact Assessment
HEADLINES
Summary
The report presents a proposal to r edesign the Out of Hours
Nuisance Service to ensure best value for money from the
resources available, based on evidence and analysis of the
available data on resident demands for this service . T he current
service operating model involves officers being available to respond
outside of normal Council operating hours to nuisance related
complaints. Analysis of calls data to the Council’s Out of Hours
contact centre shows the service to have limited ability to investigate
and resolve complaints outside of normal office hours for residents.
If the proposal as set out in this report is agreed, complaints and
investigations involving nuisance will be investigated by the
Environmental Protection Team within normal office hours
combined with a targeted approach for out -of-hours investigations,
as required, to ensure best use of available resources.
Putting our Residents
First
Delivering on the
Council Strategy
2022-2026
This report supports our ambition for residents/ the Council of:
An efficient, well-run, digital-enabled council working with partners
to deliver services to improve the lives of all our residents
This report supports our commitments to residents of:
A Digital-Enabled, Modern, Well-Run Council
Financial Cost No direct cost – this proposal will result in a £220k reduction in
service operating costs.
Select Committee Residents’ Services Select Committee.
Ward(s) All
RECOMMENDATIONS
That the Cabinet Member for Community & Environment:
1) C onsiders the data and information on residents’ requests for an out of hours
response to noise nuisance in the report;
Cabinet Member Report – 07 November 2025 Page 2
Part I – Public
2) A grees to the withdrawal of the out of hours nuisance service to ensure best use of
council resources;
3) N otes the reallocation of resident complaints involving nuisance to the day- time
Environmental Protection Team , combined with a targeted response out of hours
for persistent nuisance, when required; and
4) N otes the predicted impact to service provision contained in the i mpact
assessment.
Reasons for recommendations
The Council has a duty to ensure the resources it has available deliver best value services for
residents. A review of the on-call Out of Hours Nuisance Service, part of the wider Environmental
Protection Service for residents, shows that requests for the out of hours noise service made to
the Council’s Out of Hours contact centre and which require an immediate visit by officers are low
when considering the resource made available to provide this service. Many of the complaints
received from residents and business by the out of hours team are typically single or short-term
event issues (such as noise and nuisance from the discharging of fireworks) and therefore do not
involve ongoing case work enquiries.
The proposal set out in this report is therefore to change the oper ating model for the service to
respond to enquiries about out of hours nuisance within the normal hours of business, focussing
on repeat and persistent noise problems. The proposal also includes the creation of a new role
to lead the responses to complaints and investigations about nuisance and to make provision for
an out of hours service in a planned and systematic way to investigate and manage persistent
nuisance.
Alternative options considered/ risk management
1. To retain the current model of the out of hours nuisance service – based on the data
analysis undertaken, this would not offer residents the best use of the available resources.
2. To increase the operating budget of the service allowing the service to expand with more
capacity to deliver a wider service offering out of hours – the data does not support this as
delivering value for money.
Democratic compliance/ previous authority
Cabinet Members have authority to agree proposals for alterations to service provision, subject
to being in- line with the Council’s policy framework and costs within agreed budgets. This
proposal formed part of the approved Council budget 25/26 in February 2025, which is now
subsequently being considered by the Cabinet Member. This proposed decision has been
published on the Council’s Forward Plan in advance to meet the relevant requirements for making
key decisions.
Select Committee comments
None at this stage.
SUPPORTING INFORMATION
1. Environmental Protection Team overview
Cabinet Member Report – 07 November 2025 Page 3
Part I – Public
The Environmental Protection Team centralises highly specialised delegated environmental
and nuisance functions into one area, taking in responsibilities which cover pollution and
environmental permitting and regulating functions as well as statutory nuisance investigation
and enforcement to deal with complaints of noise, dust, odour, light and other nuisances.
Responsibility is split between Environmental Protection Specialists who deal with complex
regulation and permitting functions, planning and licensing consultations , etc. and the Out
of Hours (OOH) Nuisance Officers responsible for operating an on- call service to respond
to nuisances. The OOH team are delegated to take enforcement action during their shifts
and have capabilities to serve enforcement notices and seize equipment.
The Council’s Out of Hours noise nuisance response service currently operates during the
following times:
• Thursday 8pm-2am
• Friday & Saturday 9pm-3am
• Sunday 7pm-1am
Overall Environmental Protection Team functions are:
1. Investigation of statutory nuisance complaints.
2. Investigation of non-nuisance noise complaints.
3. Investigation of noise arising from building sites pursuant to S60 of the C ontrol of
Pollution Act 1974.
4. Statutory consultee in relation to the Licensing Act 2003.
5. Consultee re: Town and Country Planning Act in reference to noise.
6. Consultee re: Town and Country Planning Act in reference to contaminated land
7. Part B Permitting functions.
8. Contaminated land strategy.
9. Expert witness with respect to Planning Enforcement Functions.
10. Investigation of tenancy management related nuisance complaints.
11. ‘Eyes and ears’ function for the Council.
12. Additional duties; emergency response, witnessing service for licensing, food safety,
planning enforcement and housing.
2. Legislative Background
Statutory Nuisance
Under the Environmental Protection Act 1990, local authorities have a statutory duty to take
“such steps as are reasonably practicable” to investigate noise complaints and take action to
remedy noise if this constitutes a statutory nuisance. This duty is reinforced by section 6 of the
Human Rights Act 1998 which makes it unlawful for a local authority to fail to act to protect,
inter alia, rights to private and family life, which includes the impact of serious pollution. To fulfil
these duties, local author ities must have adequately resourced and competent officers
available to take appropriate action when noise problems occur.
The following matters constitute a statutory nuisance which are investigated by the team:
• smoke emitted from premises
• fumes or gases emitted from premises
Cabinet Member Report – 07 November 2025 Page 4
Part I – Public
• any dust, steam, smell or other effluvia arising on industrial, trade or business premises
• artificial light emitted from premises
• noise emitted from premises
• noise emitted from or caused by a (stationary) vehicle, machinery or equipment in a street
Most complaints investigated by the team relate to noise disturbance arising from residential,
industrial and commercial/licensed premises.
Non-nuisance Complaints
A significant volume of complaints received through the out of hours noise nuisance reporting line
will be with regard to unneighbourly behaviour which does not meet the threshold of statutory
nuisance (such as one- off parties, gatherings at night in gardens, or infrequent noise events).
The team will still attend to intervene to offer warnings, advice or informal mediation to remedy
such complaints. Unlike complaints about static issues (e.g. filthy and verminous properties, fly -
tipping etc), noise is unpredictable in nature. Residents will often not know if a disturbance may
continue through the night or be short lived. It may therefore take several att empts to visit and
witness noise before noise can be heard and assessed. As such it is normal and to be expected
that noise has ceased shortly after a visit request was made.
Noise from building sites:
Noise from building sites is investigated under the provisions of S60 of the Control of Pollution
Act 1974. The Team investigates complaints of noise from construction, either with regards to
the hours of works, or unreasonable work activities which fall short of best practice with respect
to noise.
The requirement for out of hours service provision
The provision of an out of hours responsive service is the primary tool for the Council to investigate
complaints of statutory nuisance arising outside of normal business hours , enabling the Council
to intervene through formal or informal action. In person visits are required to witness noise at
the time it is occurring, from within a resident’s property, to make an assessment of (1) the impact
of noise (or other nuisance) on the household and (2) the unreasonableness of the activity giving
rise to the disturbance.
Noise is most disturbing out of hours, and most noise nuisance complaints relate to late evening,
nighttime and weekend noise.
Most statutory nuisance complaints align with human behaviours; they are intermittent, following
no fixed pattern. It is therefore not possible to gather evidence through planned out -of-hours
appointments, or through very limited response service hours for most cases. Even within current
service hours, multiple visits may have to be undertaken before the disturbance is evidenced and
assessed.
Noise complaints cannot be investigated remotely using noise recording equipment, noise apps
or diary sheets alone. Whilst in specific circumstances such tools are helpful in the progression
of an investigation, they cannot fully account for the amplitude of noise, matters of sound
insulation or determine the source of noise. They are subject to abuse by residents who may
simulate recorded noise and so alone will not meet the criminal burden of proof.
The out of hours service operates to provide three functions:
Ongoing case progression: Evidence gathering for ongoing domestic and commercial
complaint investigation. Where noise is witnessed and informal intervention has not remedied
Cabinet Member Report – 07 November 2025 Page 5
Part I – Public
the issue the Team will provide statements and reports to support the service of abatement
notices, criminal prosecution and seizure of noise equipment. Their evidence may also be used
to support parallel proceedings brought forth by Tenancy Management or the ASB Team.
Immediate intervention: Service requests during periods of highest demand will be for a blend
of complaints regarding ongoing and one- off noise issues (parties, noise from pubs and clubs,
loud music, premises and car alarms). Most of these complaints are addressed on the night,
within an hour of complaint through direct intervention.
Auxiliary functions: The out of hours service is a resource available to the wider Council.
Monitoring is undertaken to assist out of hours evidence gathering f or other services including
licensing, food safety, ASB Localities, housing and planning enforcement. The service is currently
enhancing the way it delivers and tracks these ‘added value’ functions. The Out of Hours
Nuisance Officers can also act as valuable ‘eyes and ears’ for other community issues, such as
domestic abuse, cuckooing and anti-social behaviour.
The Department of Food and Rural Affairs ( Defra) has produced a local authority ‘Noise Policy
and Practice best practice guide’ which details recommended requirements for the provision of a
local authority’s out of hours noise service based upon the size and location of the authority.
A. Large local
authority
(metropolitan)
B. Medium size local
authority
(metropolitan)
C. Medium size local
authority
(Rural)
D. Small local
authority
(Rural)
Specialist noise team
including sufficient
inhouse
technical specialists
and dedicated
support staff (e.g. 10
to 14 staff) to provide
24-hour services
Specialist team of
perhaps 6 to 8
staff giving a regular,
extensive hours
service via a 24- hour
point of public
contact
A medium size local
authority subject to
a moderate demand
for noise services
there may be limited
‘out of hours’ cover
targeted at critical
times such as Friday
and Saturday
evenings but possibly
also
undertaking other
non-noise duties in
addition
A small local authority
without noise
specialists, a rota of
non-specialist officers
on standby, who are
contacted via a duty
officer for urgent
cases.
However alternatives
should be considered,
such as developing
an association or
collaboration with
other
nearby local
authorities and/or
outsourcing
elements
to provide an
economical but
effective service.
The London Borough of Hillingdon is the 2
nd largest Borough by size and the 9 th largest by
population. Current service provision fits between category ‘B’ and ‘C’ in the above chart.
Current demands for an Out of Hours Noise Response
Despite the OOH noise nuisance service being part of Hillingdon’s service offering for many years,
the demands on the service may be considered to be low. There could be a number of reasons
for this including; residents being unaware of the service, the nuisance is short -lived, there are
Cabinet Member Report – 07 November 2025 Page 6
Part I – Public
relatively low levels of noise nuisance in the borough, the reporting process is too laborious,
residents' direct complaints to other routes such as the Police, etc.
The figures obtained from the Council’s out of hours contact centre, and the service directly show
the following:
Oct – Dec
2024
Jan – Mar
2025
Reports to Anchor on out of hours
noise
283 217
There are peaks and troughs throughout the year with noise nuisance, however ; the average
number of calls per month is around 100, equating to around 6 calls per shift that the out of hours
noise service is operating.
The Anchor out of hours contact centre will filter these calls against an agreed protocol and only
refer appropriate calls to the Out of Hours Nuisance Officers . The proportion referred is typically
in the region of 45-50%. Data on calls referred to the Out of House Noise Nuisance officers follows
for a recent period:
March
2025
April 2025 May 2025 June 2025 July 2025 August
2025
Reports to Anchor on out of
hours noise
119 104 No Data 142 78 77
Calls passed to the OOHs
Nuisance Officers
55 43 No Data 72 73 72
From a review of the data from a 4 month period in 2024 the officers called the residents within 1
hour of the report being received on all occasions (often significantly quicker). Upon contacting
the resident, between 59% - 69% of callers advised that the noise was still ongoing resulting in a
visit being undertaken to all the locations concerned on the night. In most instances, on -going
noise witnessed during those visits is resolved through informal actions such as advice and verbal
warnings. These actions are subsequently reinforced through advisory or warning letters sent
after the event.
During shifts, the Out Of Hours Nuisance Officers will take on taskings from other services such
as Licensing, Planning, Housing, ASB, etc. to witness potential nuisance and to gather evidence
on complex cases. They will also carry out monitoring of hot -spots for ASB/nuisance issues i.e.
Ruislip Lido, Cranford Park, Car Meets, etc.
In October 2024 the Council adopted a Digital Strategy for 2024 to 2027 and agreed investment
in programmes to deliver this strategy. One of the priorities under the strategy is to improve the
data available to support decisions , which is particularly challenging when data is held across
multiple systems and comes from different sources. The Council’s Out of Hours Noise Nuisance
Team investigates cases reported through the Out of Hours Contract Centre and on the Council’s
‘Report It’ webpage and carries out tasks redirected from other Council teams and proactive
monitoring initiated by team members themselves.
The data available on the demands for services, and activities undertaken by the Out of Hours
Noise Nuisance team , provides a reasonable profile of overall trends in activity and outcomes ,
whilst the actual numbers are not a complete assessment. In reviewing the service, views of team
members have been obtained, and they have identified gaps in the available data. In particular,
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Part I – Public
it is not possible to obtain complete and accurate reports of the data held on the GOSS system
relating to the team’s activities. Resident’s reporting noise nuisance via the Council’s ‘ Report It’
webpages may not be expecting an out of hours response but may receive it by virtue of the team
receiving and responding to that request outside of normal business hours.
Structure and working pattern of the OOH team
The team consists of 4FTE working a combination of day and night shifts. Each pair of officers
will work 4 nights one week and the following week they will work 4 days which provides capacity
to investigate nuisance cases during the day. During the day shifts, officers will respond to
complaints received during office hours, progress case work and carry out visits.
There are a number of limitations impacting on the ability of the team to provide an efficient night-
time response service:
• Geographical spread of the borough – this means that officers are spending a large
proportion of their shifts travelling.
• Technological limitations – Officers are not equipped with the systems or devices to enable
real-time reporting and triaging of calls. This means that they have to travel back to the
Civic Centre between call-outs.
• Resilience of current staffing model – due to the nature of the work, officers are required
to work in pairs. There is currently no capacity in the structure to allocate additional officers
onto shifts or to cover annual leave/sickness. This means that some shifts are not fully
covered throughout the year.
Proposed Re-Design
The Council will legally need to retain capability to respond to and investigate complaints of
nuisance. There is no statutory requirement to provide this service on an out of hours basis,
however DEFRA best -practice guidance strongly recommends this and benchmarking across
London has shown that over 90% of boroughs have this capability in some form. Complaints will
still need to be dealt with during normal hours.
To ensure best use of available resources, t he proposal is to respond to complaints relating to
out of hours nuisance during normal business hours in most cases. To ensure the proposed
changes are effective, the proposal will also introduce a new role into the service to provide
specialist capacity for investigation of noise nuisance complaints and to provide the necessary
resource as is needed for programmed and targeted visits out of hours in response to predicted
and / or persistent nuisance issues . These changes will ensure the best use of resources and
make provision to allow the team to carry out monitoring of compl ex and ongoing cases where
this is necessary; however it will not provide an on-call response capability. The arrangements
will be subject to regular review to ensure they remain effective.
The proposed changes will deliver a reduction in annual operating costs of circa £220k.
Financial Implications
Policy change will not require any financial outlay at this point. No direct cost – this proposal will
result in a net £220k reduction in service operating costs through the removal of 4 posts (£309k)
across the service and creati ng a new post ( £64k) with a n additional £25k budget to cover
overtime and equipment cost.
Cabinet Member Report – 07 November 2025 Page 8
Part I – Public
RESIDENT BENEFIT & CONSULTATION
The benefit or impact upon Hillingdon residents, service users and communities
Based on the analysis of service data for the Out of Hours on- call nuisance service, the current
operating model for the service is not delivering value for money for residents. In general, the
volume of calls for the out of hours noise response that are received is low with typically around
3-5 calls to the Out of Hours contact centre being referred to the team per shift. Of those, around
30-40% of those calls are resolved without a visit by the officers being required. The proposal set
out in this paper will secure greater levels of value than the current arrangements.
There are a number of risks which will require effective management action and monitoring to
ensure they are mitigated and kept under close review.
Risks in delivering the proposed changes to the out of hours nuisance service:
1. One off complaint responses and interventions.
A reduction in service hours will limit the Council’s ability to intervene in dealing with one
off or infrequent noise complaints. Such complaints include one off parties, car and vehicle
alarms and noise from events. These will not be responded to during out of hours ;
however, they are still likely to generate service requests. However, the service demands
data referred to above highlights that the number of requests received by the Council’s Out
of Hours contact centre which can be effectively addressed through an immediate out of
hours response is low.
Whilst one-off complaints are a lower priority than those of chronic and persistent nuisance,
they represent a large volume of service request s. These requests will need to be
responded to during office hours using the additional role introduced into the
Environmental Protection team under this proposal.
2. High priority case management and progression.
A noise response service is the primary tool in the investigation of noise nuisance
complaints. Remote noise monitoring will often not provide robust evidence to support
enforcement action. Redesigning the out of hours service provision could reduce the
opportunities to witness and assess noise. This could result in slower case progression
and longer case closure times leading to lower customer satisfaction and increased
volumes of service complaints. A budget for a planned targeted response to support
specific out of hours monitoring will be retained to mitigate this risk.
3. Increase reliance on more experienced, technically qualified staff.
To meet the Council’s statutory duty to investigate nuisance complaints the Team will be
more reliant on the deployment of precision sound level meters. The current out of hours
service does not require officers to hold an Environmental Health Degree, or equivalent
qualifications in acoustics. Audio and acoustic data must be analysed by suitably qualified
and experienced officers, putting a burden on specialist officers who will also have the
pressures of high profile, high risk commercial cases and duties such as planning
consultations.
There could also be further case management pressures, with increased customer
contacts where officers are unable to progress cases through direct witnessing. This could
increase administrative case management workloads . T he proposal is to provide some
Cabinet Member Report – 07 November 2025 Page 9
Part I – Public
additional capacity to the Environmental Protection Team to support retrospective noise
nuisance investigations to help mitigate this risk.
4. Loss of additional services resource.
The Team currently undertakes ad-hoc visit requests and evidence gathering for partner
teams, including licensing, food safety, Planning Enforcement and Tenancy Management.
They will also carry out pro- active monitoring of problem areas i.e. Ruislip Lido, Cranford
Park, Car Meets, ASB in Council Car Parks, Traveller Incursions etc. The volume of these
taskings is relatively low with the team only undertaking 1- 2 tasked visits per month. This
capability could be retained through alternative arrangements within other services to
cover taskings and pro- active monitoring which is currently allocated to the OOH team
although a full resourcing plan would need to be carried out by those services.
An Equalities Impact and Human Rights Assessment has been carried out and is attached.
Consultation & Engagement carried out (or required)
No formal resident consultation has been undertaken on this proposal ; however, the budget
savings proposals were included in the budget setting Cabinet Papers and have been released
publicly.
CORPORATE CONSIDERATIONS
Corporate Finance
Corporate Finance have reviewed this report and concur with the Financial Implications set out
above, noting the recommendations to seek approval for the proposed changes outlined in the
report, which respond to residents’ requests for an out of hours noise nuisance service, including
the current service response to ensure more effective use of Council resources, reallocating
nuisance related complaints to the day -time Environmental Protection Team and noting the
anticipated impact on service provision.
Furthermore, it is noted that there are no direct financial implications to the general fund in relation
to the recommendations in this report. If the propos als are to proceed it is expected that the
changes will deliver an annual net reduction of £220k in service operating costs, which will deliver
the saving target of the Review of Out of Hours Noise Nuisance Service already contained within
the approved 2025/26 budget. As at Month 4 the Environmental Protection Team were reporting
a favourable variance of £46k. The costs and the savings achieved through these changes will
be monitored through the regular monthly monitoring cycle and the wider MTFS.
Legal
The Council has a statutory duty under the Environmental Protection Act 1990 to investigate
complaints of statutory nuisance and take appropriate action where such nuisance is identified.
This duty is reinforced by Section 6 of the Human Rights Act 1998, w hich requires public
authorities to act compatibly with the rights to private and family life, including protection from
serious pollution.
The proposed redesign of the Out of Hours Nuisance Service reallocates resources to focus on
persistent and repeat issues during normal working hours. While there is no statutory requirement
to provide an out of hours response service, Government guidance outlines that councils can
decide what level of service they provide to deal with noise complaints such as having officers on
Cabinet Member Report – 07 November 2025 Page 10
Part I – Public
call during the night. In addition, benchmarking indicates that most London boroughs maintain
some form of out of hours capability.
The proposal includes the creation of a specialist role and provision for targeted out of hours
monitoring, which helps mitigate risks associated with reduced immediate response capability.
Provided that the Council continues to maintain sufficient capacity and expertise to investigate
and respond to statutory nuisance complaints, the proposal is legally sound and does not
compromise the Council’s statutory obligations.
The proposed changes must be rational and not so unreasonable that no reasonable authority
would have made them. The decision to redesign the Out of Hours Nuisance Service appears to
be based on a detailed analysis of service demand, cost-effectiveness, and statutory obligations.
Provided the Council has considered all relevant factors (including resident impact, statutory
duties, and alternative options), the proposal is likely to meet the threshold of Wednesbury
reasonableness.
Further, although no formal public consultation is required for this proposal, the Council should
remain mindful of the Gunning principles should any future consultation be undertaken. These
principles require that consultation be carried out at a formative stage, with sufficient information
provided to allow intelligent cons ideration and response, adequate time for responses, and that
decision-makers conscientiously take those responses into account.
Legal Services notes that an Equalities Impact and Human Rights Assessment has been carried
out and are satisfied that the proposed changes are compliant with relevant legislation and case
law, subject to ongoing review of service effectiveness and legal risk.
BACKGROUND PAPERS
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/noise-nuisances-how-councils-deal-with-complaints
APPENDICES
Equalities Impact Assessment
Page 1 of 9
Equality and Human Rights
Impact Assessment
STEP A) Description of what is to be assessed and its relevance to
equality
What is being assessed? Please tick
Review of a service Staff restructure Decommissioning a service
Changing a policy Tendering for a new service A strategy or plan
The withdrawal of the Out of Hours Nuisance Service.
The withdrawal of the Out of Hours Nuisance Service means that the council will
no longer have capabilities to respond immediately to nuisance calls out of hours.
The council has statutory duties to respond to and investigate instances of
nuisance and will seek to do this during normal working hours and with the use of
planned overtime for the highest priority cases.
Who is accountable? E.g. Head of Service or Corporate Director
Stephanie Waterford, Head of Public Protection & Enforcement
Richard Webb, Director of Community Safety & Enforcement
Date assessment completed and approved by accountable person
29th September 2025
Names and job titles of people carrying out the assessment
Richard Webb, Director Community Safety & Enforcement
Stephanie Waterford, Head of Public Protection & Enforcement
Page 2 of 9
A.1) What are the main aims and intended benefits of what you are assessing?
The main benefit of the proposals is efficiency savings.
The Council has a duty to ensure the resources it has available deliver best value
services for residents. A review of the on-call Out of Hours Nuisance Service, part of
the wider Environmental Protection Service for residents, shows that requests for
the out of hours noise service made to the Council’s Out of Hours contact centre and
which require an immediate visit by officers are low when considering the resource
made available to provide this service. Many of the complaints received from
residents and business by the out of hours team are typically single or short -term
event issues (such as noise and nuisance from the discharging of fireworks) and
therefore do not involve ongoing case work enquiries.
The proposal is therefore to change the operating model for the service to respond
to enquiries about out of hours nuisance within the normal hours of business,
focussing on repeat and persistent noise problems. The proposal also includes the
creation of a new role to lead the responses to complaints and investigations about
nuisance and to make provision for an out of hours service in a planned and
systematic way to investigate and manage persistent nuisance.
Despite the OOH noise nuisance service being part of Hillingdon’s service offering
for many years, the demands on the service may be considered to be low. There
could be a number of reasons for this including; residents being unaware of the
service, the nuisance is short-lived, there are relatively low levels of noise nuisance
in the borough, the reporting process is too laborious, residents' direct complaints to
other routes such as the Police, etc.
The figures obtained from Anchor, the council’s out of hours contact centre, and the
service directly show the following:
Oct – Dec
2024
Jul – Sept
2024
Apr – Jun
2024
Jan – Mar
2025
Reports to Anchor on out of hours
noise
283 399 355 217
There are peaks and troughs throughout the year with noise nuisance, however, the
average number of calls per month is around 100
, equating to around 6 calls per
shift that the out of hours noise service is operating.
The Anchor out of hours contact centre will filter these calls against an agreed
protocol and only refer appropriate calls to the Out of Hours Nuisance Officers. The
proportion referred is typically in the region of 45- 50%. Data on calls referred to the
Out of House Noise Nuisance officers follows for a recent period:
March
2025
April
2025
May
2025
June
2025
July
2025
August
2025
Page 3 of 9
Reports to Anchor on out
of hours noise
119 104 No Data 142 78 77
Calls passed to the
OOHs Nuisance Officers
55 43 No Data 72 73 72
The efficiencies generated from the withdrawal of this service will be redirected into
services which face higher levels of demand.
Remaining funds from these posts will be redirected into the Environmental
Protection Team to create an Environmental Protection Officer post which will be
responsible for dealing with nuisance complaints and investigations during normal
office hours.
A.2) Who are the service users or staff affected by what you are assessing? What is
their equality profile?
The council does not monitor the equality characteristics of those who contact the
Out of Hours service.
People from all protected characteristic groups could be both the victim of nuisance
or the perpetrator.
Research shows however that demographics and personal circumstances were
associated with different types of ASB that were likely to be experienced or
witnessed. Those living in the most deprived areas were more likely to have
experienced or witnessed ASB in the last 12 months compared to those in less
deprived areas. Those with long-term physical or mental health conditions were
more likely to have experienced or witnessed ASB in the last 12 months compared
to those without the same conditions.
Anti-social behaviour: impacts on individuals and local communities
- GOV.UK
Of the 161 neighbourhoods in Hillingdon, 9 were among the 20% most income-
deprived in England. These are all in the south of the borough.
Exploring local income
deprivation
Those living in the southern neighbourhoods of the borough are more likely to be
from Black or Asian backgrounds.
A.3) Who are the stakeholders in this assessment and what is their interest in it?
Stakeholders Interest
Hillingdon residents To ensure that the council provides a
cost effective and efficient mechanism
to report and investigate nuisance
behaviour.
Staff affected by the proposals To ensure the consultation process and
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any subsequent redeployment process
is carried out in a fair and transparent
manner.
Unions that support staff affected by the
proposals
To ensure the consultation process and
any subsequent redeployment process
is carried out in a fair and transparent
manner and that the interests of their
Union members are presented.
Director of Community Safety and
Enforcement
To ensure the consultation process and
any subsequent redeployment process
is carried out in a fair and transparent
manner.
To ensure that the council provides a
cost effective and efficient mechanism
to report and investigate nuisance
behaviour.
Corporate Director Homes and
Communities
To ensure the consultation process and
any subsequent redeployment process
is carried out in a fair and transparent
manner.
To ensure that the council provides a
cost effective and efficient mechanism
to report and investigate nuisance
behaviour.
Chief Executive and Corporate
Management Team
To ensure the consultation process and
any subsequent redeployment process
is carried out in a fair and transparent
manner.
To ensure that the council provides a
cost effective and efficient mechanism
to report and investigate nuisance
behaviour.
Leader of the Council and Cabinet To ensure the consultation process and
any subsequent redeployment process
is carried out in a fair and transparent
manner.
To ensure that the council provides a
cost effective and efficient mechanism
to report and investigate nuisance
behaviour.
A.4) Which protected characteristics or community issues are relevant to the
assessment? in the box.
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Any person in the borough may experience nuisance and may request a visit from
the out of hours nuisance service. The Council will still have capability to respond to
nuisance complaints but will not have a dedicated out of hours service.
Age Sex
Disability Sexual Orientation
Gender reassignment
Socio-economic status
Marriage or civil partnership Carers
Pregnancy or maternity Community Cohesion
Race/Ethnicity Community Safety
Religion or belief Human Rights
STEP B) Consideration of information; data, research, consultation,
engagement
B.1) Consideration of information and data - what have you got and what is it telling
you?
Residents/Service Users
Research and data shows that those who are from a Black, Asian or other ethnic
background other than White are more likely to be affected by ASB and therefore
may be disproportionately affected by the withdrawal of the ability to report out of
hours.
Research and data shows that those who have a long-term physical or mental
health condition are more likely to be affected by ASB and therefore may be
disproportionately affected by the withdrawal of the ability to report out of hours.
It is also likely that those residents living in close proximity to industrial locations or
major transport hubs may be more impacted by nuisance compared to those living
in more rural, sparsely populated areas.
Some residents may be more vulnerable to ASB and require more support when
impacted by ASB. This group may be disproportionately impacted by the loss of an
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immediate support service.
Consultation
B.2) Did you carry out any consultation or engagement as part of this assessment?
Please tick NO YES
No specific consultation has taken place as part of this assessment.
B.3) Provide any other information to consider as part of the assessment
Legal context
The Council has a duty under the Equality Act 2010 to-
∙ To eliminate unlawful discrimination, harassment, victimisation and any other
conduct prohibited by the Act;
∙ To advance equality of opportunity between people who share a protected
characteristic and people who do not share it; and
∙ To foster good relations between people who share a protected characteristic and
people who do not share it.
The Council, as a public authority, is also required to comply with the European
Convention on Human Rights.
Article 8 of the ECHR provides that everyone has the right to respect for his private
and family life, his home and his correspondence and that there shall be no
interference by public authority with the exercise of this right except such as “in
accordance with the law” and “necessary in a democratic society”.
The Council has a number of statutory duties relating to preventing nuisance and
anti-social behaviour. Local Authority powers and responsibilities to tackle ASB are
mainly contained in the Environmental Protection Acts. Other legislation may apply
in certain circumstances such as the Clean Neighbourhoods and Environment Act
2005.
Financial context - standard text
Since 2010, the Business Improvement Delivery (BID) Programme has driven
transformation across the Council, reducing costs and improving efficiency to ensure
that in an environment of increased expenditure from population growth and
inflationary uplifts we continue to deliver high quality services that put residents first.
Hillingdon's approach to maintaining sound financial management ensures that our
finances are in a robust position, and therefore the Council is well placed to
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respond to Government funding not increasing at the same pace as the combined
impact of a growing demand for services and increased market forces. Our latest
projections indicate that further savings of £35m will be required by 2026/27 to
bridge the resulting budget gap.
The withdrawal of this service will generate £220k of savings.
C) Assessment
What did you find in B1? Who is affected? Is there, or likely to be, an impact on
certain groups?
C.1) Describe any NEGATIVE impacts (actual or potential):
Equality Group
Impact on this group and actions you need to
take
Residents from Black,
Asian and other
ethnic backgrounds
other than White
Research and demographic data shows that residents
from this group are more likely to be living in the south of
the borough and potentially more likely to be affected by
nuisance behaviour and therefore more likely to report out
of hours.
All service requests and requests for nuisance
investigations will still be dealt with by Environmental
Protection officers via the usual reporting mechanisms in
normal office hours.
Where victims of nuisance have protected characteristics
or vulnerabilities and the nuisance or ASB is motivated or
the impact or harm is increased by those factors, their
case will be prioritised accordingly.
Residents with long-
term physical or
mental health
conditions
Research shows that residents from this group are more
likely to be affected by nuisance behaviour and therefore
more likely to report to report out of hours.
All service requests and requests for nuisance
investigations will still be dealt with by Environmental
Protection officers via the usual reporting mechanisms in
normal office hours.
Where victims of nuisance have protected characteristics
or vulnerabilities and the nuisance or ASB is motivated or
the impact or harm is increased by those factors, their
case will be prioritised accordingly.
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Cases of anti-social behaviour, harassment and
individuals causing detriment to neighbourhoods are the
responsibility of the Councils Anti-social Behaviour team.
The Out of Hours Nuisance Service will regularly pick up
calls to respond to these types of issues where they
occur out of normal office hours although this is not part
of the nuisance based role. This response will cease if
the service is withdrawn and service requests will be
diverted through to the ASB team who will prioritise
accordingly. For urgent high-risk cases posing a danger,
a Police response should be the first port of call.
All other protected
characteristic groups
As the team do not record this data, it is difficult to
determine the exact impact. However all users of the
service will be impacted by the withdrawal of the service
as there will no longer be a Council capability to respond
to nuisance occurring out of hours.
Service requests will be diverted to the Environmental
Protection Unit who will undertake investigations of
statutory nuisance in accordance with legislative and
national policy directions.
C.2) Describe any POSITIVE impacts
Equality Group Impact on this group and actions you need to
take
All The efficiencies generated from the withdrawal of this
service will be redirected into services which face higher
levels of demand so that the most vulnerable to
experiencing ASB are supported, regardless of protected
characteristic.
D) Conclusions
We recognise that the proposal to withdraw the out of hours service will directly
negatively impact the incumbent staff group.
All consultation and redeployment processes as outlined in the consultation documents will be
carried out in accordance with HR Policies.
We will ensure that staff are briefed and kept up to date with policies and procedures related to
the proposal and full support will be given.
We recognise that there are certain groups who are more likely to experience or
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witness ASB.
All service requests and requests for nuisance investigations will still be dealt with by
Environmental Protection officers via the usual reporting mechanisms in normal office
hours.
Where victims of nuisance have protected characteristics or vulnerabilities and the
nuisance or ASB is motivated or the impact or harm is increased by those factors,
their case will be prioritised accordingly.
Signed and dated: 25/09/2025
Name and position: Richard Webb; Director of Community Safety and Enforcement
View Decision / Minutes Text
Executive Decision Notice – 17 November 2025
This notice is a public document also available to view on the Council's website www.hillingdon.gov.uk
OFFICIAL EXECUTIVE DECISION NOTICE
PUBLISHED BY DEMOCRATIC SERVICES
Notice is hereby given that the following decision(s) have been made today by
Cabinet Members at the London Borough of Hillingdon:
Title of decision OUT OF HOURS NUISANCE SERVICE – REVIEW & RE -
DESIGN
Reference No. 1556
Date of decision Monday 17 November 2025
Call-in expiry date Monday 24 November 2025
Relevant Select
Committee
Residents’ Services Select Committee.
Relevant Wards All
Decision made
Cabinet Members making
the decision
Councillor Eddie Lavery,
Cabinet Member for Community & Environment
Decision Agreed
The Cabinet Member for Community & Environment:
1) C onsidered the data and information on
residents’ requests for an out of hours response
to noise nuisance in the report;
2) A greed to the withdrawal of the out of hours
nuisance service to ensure best use of council
resources;
3) N oted the reallocation of resident complaints
involving nuisance to the day -time
Environmental Protection Team, combined with a
targeted response out of hours for persistent
nuisance, when required; and
4) N oted the predicted impact to service provision
contained in the impact assessment.
Reason for decision The recommendations were based on a review of the Out of
Hours Nuisance Service, which showed that only a small
number of calls required an immediate officer visit and that
most reports related to one- off or short -term issues. As a
result, the proposal sou ght to refocus the service on
addressing persistent or repeat nuisance during normal
business hours, supported by the creation of a dedicated
role to lead investigations. This approach would also allow
Executive Decision Notice – 17 November 2025
This notice is a public document also available to view on the Council's website www.hillingdon.gov.uk
ongoing nuisance cases to be managed outside normal
hours in a more planned and effective way.
Alternative options
considered and rejected
1. To retain the current model of the out of hours
nuisance service – based on the data analysis
undertaken, this would not offer residents the best
use of the available resources.
2. To increase the operating budget of the service
allowing the service to expand with more capacity to
deliver a wider service offering out of hours – the data
does not support this as delivering value for money.
Classification Part I - Public
Link to associated report The Link to the report can be found here
Relevant Officer contact
& Directorate
Stephanie Waterford/ Richard Webb - Residents Services
Directorate
Any interest declared by
the Cabinet Member(s) /
dispensation granted
N/A
Implementation of decision & scrutiny call-in
[Internal Use only]
When can this
decision be
implemented by
officers?
Officers can implement Cabinet Member decision in this notice only
from the expiry of the scrutiny call-in period which is:
5pm on Monday 24 November 2025
However, this is subject to the decision not being called in by
Councillors on the relevant Select Committee. Upon receipt of a
valid call-in request, Democratic Services will immediately advise
the relevant officer(s) and the decision must then be put on hold.
Councillor scrutiny
call-in of this
decision
Councillors on the relevant Select Committee shown in this notice
may request to call-in this decision. The request must be before the
expiry of the scrutiny call-in period above.
Councillors should use the Scrutiny Call-in App (link below) on their
devices to initiate any call-in request. Further advice can be sought
from Democratic Services if required:
Scrutiny Call-In - Power Apps (secure)
Executive Decision Notice – 17 November 2025
This notice is a public document also available to view on the Council's website www.hillingdon.gov.uk
Further information These decisions, where applicable, have been taken under The
Local Authorities (Executive Arrangements) (Meetings and Access
to Information) (England) Regulations 2012.
This is the formal notice by the Council of the above executive
decision, including links to the reports where applicable.
If you would like more information on this decision, please contact
Democratic Services on 01895 250636 or email:
democratic@hillingdon.gov.uk.
Circulation of this decision notice is to a variety of people including
Members of the Council, Corporate Directors, Officers, Group
Secretariats and the Public. Copies are also placed on the
Council’s website.
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London Borough of Hillingdon
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