Firstly, it may be best to contact your neighbour to let them know that there is a problem. In many cases, neighbours are often totally unaware that their dog is causing a problem to others. They will often appreciate the opportunity to put things right before anyone else, the council for example, becomes involved.

If you cannot approach your neighbours, contact Pollution & Noise Control for advice.

• Contact Pollution & Noise Control

When you complain

• An officer will be assigned to deal with your complaint.
• They will contact the owner of the dog(s), make them aware that a complaint has been made and provide them with advice and information as to how best to resolve the problem.
• The officer will not tell the dog(s) owner who has made the complaint.
• They will write to you to confirm that they have spoken with the owner.
• In most cases this first approach to the dog(s) owner will resolve the matter.
• If the problem does continue, contact us again.
  • Contact Pollution & Noise Control

Further action

• The officer will now investigate the matter formally.
• They will write to the owners to tell them they have received further complaints and that they are now investigation it formally.
• You will need to gather evidence about the time and frequency of the dog barking and how it affects your use of your property.
• Therefore you will be required to complete and return to us record sheets so that we can determine the extent of the problem.
• The officer will review your record sheet to decide the best way to witness the dog(s) barking.
• It is normally necessary to assess the noise from inside your property so we can determine how it is affecting you. This may be through a visit to your property or we may arrange to install sound monitoring equipment in your premises.

• We will serve an Abatement Notice, requiring the owner of the dog making the noise to stop the nuisance happening again. We will normally give the owner of the dog a reasonable period of time to achieve this so the notice will not come into force immediately.
• If the barking does not stop after the notice has come into force and we witness it, we may consider formal action such as prosecuting the owner of the dog in the Magistrates' Court.

Sometimes noise from barking dogs is difficult to witness because it only happens occasionally and sometimes after monitoring, we may conclude that the barking is not a statutory nuisance and we cannot then take any action. If this happens, we can provide you with an information pack on how you may take your own action in the Magistrates' Court.

Pollution & Noise Control
Riverbank Court
Wakefield Road
Aspley
Huddersfield
HD5 9AA

Tel: 01484 414739
Email: pollution@kirklees.gov.uk