Noise Act hits snags

Press, 15 June 1983, Page 5

Noise Act hits snags

Christchurch local bodies are having trouble coming to grips with the new Noise Control Act. Of the six local councils only the Waimairi District Council is attempting to implement fully the new act which came into force on June 1. The Noise Control Act was passed by Parliament last year and is part of the Health Act, 1956. It extends the powers of local bodies to deal with noise, and enables the police to assist them if a potentially dangerous situation arises. The noise control officer in most cases will be localbody health inspectors given the responsibility of receiving and acting on complaints by the public. Waimairi has rostered its six health inspectors on a 24 hour seven days a week duty to handle any complaints and the council’s answering service has been put through to the officer’s telephone. Ail local bodies are still enforcing the old nuisance section of the Health Act. The administration officer of the Lyttelton Borough Council, Mr G. Broker, said that the council was studying the new legislation closely, but at this stage it was still working in with the police and dealing with problems in that manner. “To implement the legislation to its fullest with people on standby would be crippling financially. <? we are a small council and it would be a greater drain on us financially than

on bigger councils,” he said. Mr Broker said that the position in Lyttelton was aggravated by the health inspector’s living in Christchurch and officers would have to be appointed to cover Diamond Harbour as well as Lyttelton.

Two points concerning rights of the enforcement officer to enter property and possible police protection will have to be cleared up before the Christchurch City Council enacts the provisions of the new act. Normal procedures of checking noise complaints under the Health Act will continue in the meantime. The commander of the Christchurch police district, Deputy Assistant Commissioner G. E. Twentyman, said that under the new legislation all callers complaining of noise would be told to contact their localbody noise control officers. “If the local-body representative thinks he needs assistance we will then help.” Riccarton Borough Council, Paparua County Council, and Heathcote County Council have followed the lead of the Christchurch City Council and continue to enforce noise problems under the Health Act. The Riccarton Town Clerk, Mr J. B. Skinner, said that the new legislation was being studied by the health inspector and would be discussed at a council meeting next week.

A spokesman for the Heathcote County Council said that the council was

observing the implementation of the act elsewhere and that no direct action was being taken until problems such as access to property were solved. The Paparua County Engineer, Mr J. D. Annan, attacked the new legislation at the national Institute of County Engineers’ annual conference in Rotorua on Monday. “How dare the Government declare that a certain person is on duty 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 52 weeks in the year without prior consultation and full agreement on the part of these people,” he said.

“We are civilians. We are not the Armed Forces, nor are we the uniformed police or the traffic department. We have been given a task to undertake with no choice. The act is quite categorical.”

The Minister of Health, Mr Malcolm, has urged community co-operation to make the noise law work.

Mr Malcolm yesterday called a press conference after Auckland reports of confusion about the act and union bans by local-body officers who are supposed to police it. The Minister said that many people in the community were co-operating, but a few individuals were raising issues not necessarily relevant to the objectives of the law.

He would not get involved in the “employer-employee” talks about local-body officers’ actions. Not all local-body unions were

adopting the stance taken by northern local government officers.

Labour’s spokesman on health, Dr M. E. R. Bassett, said that the act would never work, but it should be given a fair trial.

“Evidence as to its inadequacies should be collected by all local authorities and by the Local Government Officers’ Union. Then a combined approach should be made to the Government and a plea made for the appropriate changes to the act”