CCTV/Sound Recording as evidence - Can anyone Answer A Question Please...

[rockinhippy]

Background?.

We have an ongoing serious noise problem affecting us all including our 9 year DD old badly, we are currently having to arrange our sleeping arrangements around the noise (Live Bands), its bad enough normally but as our DD is currently on crutches after a bad accident & my DH is too tall for all but one of our beds, this is not an easy option, & one we shouldn't have to live with anyway

due to the nature of the Environmental Noise People & how their system works, the source of the noise are warned when we have Dat equipment installed & told that they are under investigation

so of course its quieter than usual - though it HAS been witnessed & recorded as music & thumping out of the beat by foot tapping on the stage that is clearly audible in bedrooms - so much so that one NP officer said "oh its a female vocalist"

so obviously clearly heard - yet they STILL insist its not a "Statutory Nuisance" - something about time & frequency etc - which to us makes no sense, as it has been witnessed, recorded & our diaries - which they insisted we had to keep up to date & be detailed - not easy for me as I have a disability - we feel they are not taking us or our diaries - which are honest - seriously

They have told us we have to take it to a "License Review" & have pretty much washed their hands of it - they are right, that is the route we need to take, but having spoken to the licensing dept on the number they gave us, we have been told if EH Noise don't accept it as a "statutory nuisance", then we don't have a leg to stand on with a review hearing - Environmental Health say this isn't true & we generally get the feeling that as its a difficult case, one that makes their "case file" look poor, they want shot of us - now telling us to take private legal action ourselve

As you can imagine, we are at our wits end, more & more live music night are being added, TENs notices being allowed means now also to 4 am & weekdays when no-one is available to witness it & we've now been told even if they do witness it at a higher level, it will be taken as a "one off" - we have a 4 bedroomed house - yet spend many nights all squashed into 1 room & its still audible even in there :( - as you can imagine we feel badly let down :(

should add .. all communication has broken down with the perpetrators, so no point in speaking with them - have had threats on my doorstep & in the street & even when NP came out & witnessed it as 1.30 am on Saturday ? they refused to take it seriously as there was a festival in the center of town " & live Music & entertainment is being encouraged tonight) - we are not in the centre of town & after my keep repeating - YES but we still have to sleep - did they then agree to ask for it to be turned down - 10 minutes after NP had left - it was twice as loud as it had been earlier, as they knew no-one would be out again

My Question?..

Would anyone know - If we buy some sort of sound recording, noise sensitive CCTV device & install that to record the true noise levels & frequency as evidence ourselves - if putting up a notice saying something like ?. CCTV, Sound Recording Equipment in Constant Use

Would this mean we can then legally use what we record as evidence??

I have already asked a Solicitor friend & he said he is fairly certain that it does, but not his area of expertise so wasn't 100% sure & obviously we want to be sure before spending what is probably going to be a large sum of money on equipment to hopefully help build our case


Thank you :)

[singlevillagemum]

Copied from the Noise Act 1996 [which we have to use at work]
6 Approval of measuring devices.
(1)For the purposes of this group of sections, the Secretary of State may approve in writing any type of device used for the measurement of noise; and references in this group of sections to approved devices are to devices of a type so approved.
(2)Any such approval may be given subject to conditions as to the purposes for which, and the manner and other circumstances in which, devices of the type concerned are to be used.
(3)In proceedings for an offence under section 4, a measurement of noise made by a device is not admissible as evidence of the level of noise unless it is an approved device and any conditions subject to which the approval was given are satisfied.

Hope that helps?