SiteKiln gives you plain-English information, not legal advice. If you need advice specific to your situation, talk to your local council's environmental health team.
The law is basically saying: yes, building work is noisy and dusty, but you still have to use best practicable means and not wreck the neighbours' lives.
1. Control of Pollution Act 1974 -- construction site noise
The Control of Pollution Act 1974 gives councils specific powers over noise from construction sites.
Two key tools
Section 60 notice -- the council can serve a notice on you setting:
- Permitted working hours,
- Plant/machinery and methods allowed,
- Noise limits and mitigation measures.
Breaching a s60 notice is a criminal offence.
Section 61 prior consent -- you can apply before noisy works for the council's consent to your proposed:
- Hours of work,
- Plant and machinery,
- Noise/vibration levels and mitigation,
- Monitoring methods.
If you stick to an approved s61, it's a strong defence against later noise complaints and s60 notices.
Typical acceptable hours for noisy work
Most councils publish these -- often around:
- Monday-Friday: 07:30/08:00-17:30/18:00
- Saturday: 07:30/08:00-13:00
- Sundays/Bank Holidays: no noisy work
They treat power tools, plant, hammering and similar as "noisy work" that should be kept inside those hours.
2. Environmental Protection Act 1990 -- statutory nuisance (noise and dust)
Under EPA 1990, sections 79-82, certain things are "statutory nuisances", including:
- "Any dust, steam, smell or other effluvia arising on industrial, trade or business premises and being prejudicial to health or a nuisance."
- "Noise emitted from premises so as to be prejudicial to health or a nuisance," and noise from vehicles, machinery or equipment in a street.
If neighbours complain
- The council must investigate, and if they're satisfied a statutory nuisance exists or is likely to occur, they must serve an abatement notice under section 80.
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That notice can require you to:
- Stop or reduce the nuisance (e.g. change hours, methods, plant, or dust controls).
- Prevent it happening again.
- Failing to comply with an abatement notice is an offence -- for businesses, fines can go up to £20,000 (and more for repeat offences), plus further daily fines if it continues.
3. What "best practicable means" looks like on a real job
Councils and the case law expect you to use best practicable means (BPM) to control noise and dust, especially during permitted hours.
For noise, that usually means
- Keep to agreed/normal noisy working hours.
- Use the quietest suitable plant, keep it maintained, fit proper exhaust silencers.
- Keep noisy kit as far from houses and sensitive receptors as you can.
- Switch plant off or throttle down when not in use.
- Plan the noisiest tasks (breaking out, piling, saws) into shorter bursts rather than all day.
For dust, BPM means things like
- Use water suppression when cutting, grinding or breaking out.
- Cover skips and dusty stockpiles; don't overload them so material spills or blows out.
- Sweep up and damp down, don't dry-sweep thick dust.
- Wheel-wash or clean up mud at site exits so you're not trailing muck down the street.
If you can show you've thought about and implemented measures like these, you're in a much stronger position if the council gets involved.
4. How to handle complaints without it turning into a war
- Work within sensible hours -- match your local council's published times for noisy work where you can.
- Let neighbours know before very noisy phases (demolition, breaking out, piling) and give them a site contact number.
- If complaints come in, check what's actually happening on site and adjust if you reasonably can.
- On big or sensitive jobs, consider applying for section 61 prior consent so everyone knows what's agreed up front.
Ignore it and carry on regardless, and you're inviting: an abatement notice, site visits when you least want them, and fines that will hurt more than doing it right in the first place.
5. Common mistakes
- Starting noisy work at 7am on a Saturday -- most councils say 8am at the earliest on Saturdays and nothing on Sundays. Check your local rules.
- Running a generator or compressor all day right next to the neighbour's fence -- move it, screen it, or at least warn them.
- Dry-cutting concrete or blocks with no suppression -- creates huge dust clouds that travel, and can trigger an abatement notice on the first complaint.
- Dismissing complaints as "they should expect it, it's building work" -- the law doesn't give you a free pass; you must use BPM regardless.
- Not knowing your council's noise hours -- they vary; check before the job starts, not after the first complaint.
6. Who to contact
- Your local council -- environmental health team -- for noise/dust complaints, published working hours, and s61 prior consent applications: gov.uk/find-local-council (free)
- Environment Agency -- if the complaint involves pollution (run-off, contamination, not just noise/dust): 03708 506 506 (free)
- CIRIA -- construction best practice guidance on noise and dust control: ciria.org
- HSE -- if the noise/dust also poses a health risk to workers (occupational exposure): hse.gov.uk (free)
7. Sources and legislation
- Control of Pollution Act 1974 -- sections 60-61 (construction site noise controls). legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1974/40
- Environmental Protection Act 1990 -- sections 79-82 (statutory nuisance, abatement notices). legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1990/43
- BS 5228-1:2009+A1:2014 -- Code of practice for noise and vibration control on construction and open sites (Part 1: Noise).
- BS 5228-2:2009+A1:2014 -- Code of practice for noise and vibration control on construction and open sites (Part 2: Vibration).
- IAQM guidance on dust assessment -- Institute of Air Quality Management guidance for construction dust.
8. Related guides on this site
- 11.7 Protected species on site -- bats, newts, nesting birds
- 11.9 Contaminated land -- what to do if you find something
- 9.7 Neighbour disputes from your client's work -- party walls
- 4.19 Dust and silica exposure -- the rules are changing
- Building Regulations: Silica Dust & COSHH
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