Odour Nuisance

General information

Odour can be produced from various sources, for example agricultural or business practises, domestic premises, keeping of pets and accumulation of rubbish. This is how we deal with odour complaints and how to prevent an odour nuisance from occurring in the first place.

Environmental Protection Act 1990

The Environmental Protection Act 1990 is the legal framework used to investigate odour complaints deemed to be causing a nuisance or be injurious to health. We can use this Act to investigate complaints originating from fumes or gases from domestic premises, smells from an industrial, trade or business premise, an accumulation of rubbish and the living conditions of an animal.

Statutory Nuisance

Odour is subjective (what is offensive to one person may be acceptable to another) and factors that are examined when considering the existence of a statutory nuisance are:

• type of odour
• wind strength and direction
• duration of odour
• time of day
• how often it occurs

The odour needs to be considered to be a Statutory Nuisance from an Environmental Health Officer’s professional opinion. In addition, the source needs to be beyond reasonable doubt as the cause of the odour.

To be a Statutory Nuisance the odour needs to be witnessed as materially affecting the comfort or enjoyment of the complainant’s property or the public at large

Our Duty

We have a duty under the Environmental Protection Act 1990 to undertake reasonable investigations of all odour complaints to establish whether a Statutory Nuisance exists.

Abatement Notice

Statutory Nuisance is witnessed an Abatement Notice under section 80 of Environmental Protection Act 1990 would be served. An Abatement Notice is a legal document requiring the nuisance is stopped and does not occur again and may require the execution of works or steps to abate the nuisance. The notice can also specify the time within which the notice is to be complied with and specify the rights for times or appeal. The notice is served on the person responsible for the nuisance, if that person cannot be found the owner or occupier of the premises.

If the notice is not complied with the person causing the nuisance may be prosecuted. There is a maximum fine of £5000 in domestic cases and £20,000 for commercial and industrial premises.

Initial Action

There is a strong possibility that the person causing the odour nuisance is unaware that they are disturbing other people. We recommend that the first step you take is to speak to the person responsible directly.

Best Practicable Means

This is a defence that can be used by commercial, industrial premises if an odour nuisance is established. The defence requires the business to prove they have used the best practicable means to prevent or minimise the effects of noise. Control of Pollution Act 1974, part III defines best practicable means as taking account of local conditions, circumstances, technological advances and financial implications. Consideration must be given to the design, installation, maintenance, functioning and period of the equipment and structure of building.

What you can expect from us

We aim to respond to your initial complaint within 2 working days.

Click here to see how quickly we aim to deal with your enquiries

For more information contact:

Environmental Protection, Environmental Services,
Wychavon District Council, Civic Centre

, Queen Elizabeth Drive, Pershore, Worcs. WR10 1PT

Telephone: 01386 565015 - between 9am-5pm, Monday-Friday
Fax: 01386 561826
Email: environmental.health@wychavon.gov.uk