How to deal with persistent noise pollution from a factory

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neb

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#2890998 23-Mar-2022 20:06

insane: Other information is so redacted it's almost pointless trying to read it.

This one is also in the Utopia episode about OIA access. If you can stream it from somewhere it's definitely worth watching, as is the rest of the series.

Kiwifruta

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#2891068 24-Mar-2022 00:19

floydbloke:

Sound like your whole area is affected. Is it an option to speak to some of your neighbours and join forces.

I have no idea how to go about this in real life sorry. Maybe 10 0f you could ring noise control at the same time every night?

Or if you do get to speak to someone in authority at Allproof let them know that you're representing several families.

When I lived in Tauranga, the council said they needed two complaints on the same night before they would send the noise control officer out.
Possibly similar rule in Auckland.

neb

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#2892316 26-Mar-2022 02:08

So I've had a reply from noise control for the OIA inquiry, they want to know if I want the details for a specific address, or in general. What I'm tempted to do is ask for the details for Allproof Industries specifically, falling back to general figures if they haven't got anything that specific, because that would back up the claim that they're not doing anything about this specific issue. Before I do that though, can anyone see a strong reason for asking for the figures only for the Allproof Industries case vs. everything in Auckland?

SomeoneSomewhere

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#2892350 26-Mar-2022 11:25

Why not both?

I can see them refusing an 'everything' request on the grounds of it being too much work, even if that's stupid - surely they know how many times they dispatch officers without having to sum up every single instance.

neb

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#2892504 26-Mar-2022 20:36

SomeoneSomewhere: Why not both?

I can see them refusing an 'everything' request on the grounds of it being too much work

I see you've answered your own question there :-). If I ask for what's obviously a fishing-expedition set of info from different data sets they may refuse it based on it being too much work, while possibly a targeted query will get a quick response. It's also a toss-up between a very targeted query giving results just for that case, or an Auckland-wide query where any differences in reports vs. responses may be lost in the noise.

So for now I think I'll go for the one address at Allproof Industries and if there's anything surprising there submit a followup later for all of Auckland.

insane

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#2892565 26-Mar-2022 22:25

I think go with the specific request first, and once you get the results, follow up with the general one.

They would field queries like this all the time from reporters

neb

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#2894325 30-Mar-2022 16:37

So an update, got the response to the request very quickly, but of the 15 calls to noise control and six case numbers assigned so far, only four are listed:

Two are "Referred to Dispatch" (in other words it was bounced back to the council) and two are "Did Not Attend/No Action Taken". In other words of the four that are actually recorded, they took no action for any of them.

What's more, the one time they did respond, on the first call, they claimed they'd talked to factory staff about it at 2am on Saturday for a factory that only has staff there 9-5 Mon-Fri and for which I called the following Monday and they confirmed that no-one had contacted them, and when I called last night was told they'd determined that the noise was non-infringing even though no-one has ever been here to take a noise measurement.

So not only are they not doing their job, they're making up stories about it to make it look like they're actually doing something. Currently waiting to hear back about whether there's a complaints procedure, after which the next step I guess is the ombudsman.

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Daynger

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#2894341 30-Mar-2022 17:02

neb: So an update, got the response to the request very quickly, but of the 15 calls to noise control and six case numbers assigned so far, only four are listed: Two are "Referred to Dispatch" (in other words it was bounced back to the council) and two are "Did Not Attend/No Action Taken". In other words of the four that are actually recorded, they took no action for any of them. What's more, the one time they did respond, on the first call, they claimed they'd talked to factory staff about it at 2am on Saturday for a factory that only has staff there 9-5 Mon-Fri and for which I called the following Monday and they confirmed that no-one had contacted them, and when I called last night was told they'd determined that the noise was non-infringing even though no-one has ever been here to take a noise measurement. So not only are they not doing their job, they're making up stories about it to make it look like they're actually doing something. Currently waiting to hear back about whether there's a complaints procedure, after which the next step I guess is the ombudsman.

Another option is to get your local MP to come out one night and meet you.

neb

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#2894362 30-Mar-2022 17:44

Either this is a giant coincidence or someone from the council is reading this thread, I just got a call from noise control saying they'd be around tonight, an hour after I posted the above.

Mind you I've heard that one before, so I'll wait and see whether anyone actually turns up.

Edited to add: So someone did turn up, but way earlier than expected when the crickets are still making a helluva racket and today of all days it's not as bad as it often is. The reason why they'd been unresponsive was that they'd had multiple Covid cases in the office so people were having to self-isolate, I just wish they'd communicated something about this, even the council call centre staff weren't informed so it looked like noise control were just ignoring the problem.

We're now in the queue to get a calibrated sound meter installed to catch it on days when it is bad, but they only have x of those and y people in line for them where y >> x so it's about a month's wait. Since it's been 1 1/2 months already I guess we can wait that out.

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