Odour, dust, smoke and other pollution problems

The Public Health - Pollution Section of Environmental Health Services deals with statutory nuisances from commercial or industrial premises, such as shops and factories.

A statutory nuisance may exist if you are prevented from enjoying your land or property by something like dust, vibration, smoke, odour, light, insects, etc. coming from such premises. We will take details from you and investigate. We may ask you to complete diary sheets detailing when and how you are affected.

As part of our nuisance investigation procedure we may contact the person responsible informally, to give them a chance to remedy it.  Please be assured that all service requests are confidential and your identity will not be revealed.  In certain cases it may prove difficult to avoid identifying you, but we will discuss this with you before proceeding.

If we cannot resolve the matter informally, we will decide whether formal action (for example serving an abatement notice or taking court action) is appropriate.  If we take court action it will strengthen our position greatly if the person suffering the nuisance stands as a witness.  We will discuss this with you before proceeding.

Follow this link to view Pendle Borough Council's procedure for dealing with statutory nuisance.

Sometimes construction and demolition works can cause particular problems, especially on large development sites.  We have published a Code of Practice on Construction and Demolition which contains advice for site managers on reducing disturbance to nearby residents.

If you think you are affected by a statutory nuisance, you should call the contact centre on 01282 661199 or email us directly on environmental.pollution@pendle.gov.uk.