Noise pollution; fortunately I’ve never suffered a serious case of this myself, but I imagine it’s quite a common thing in today’s world of construction and development; and louder entertainment systems of course! Victims of noise pollution are able to claim for compensation for the inconvenience and the general nuisance the noise causes to their life.

So here’s a story on the very subject – according to sources from the Daily Mail (source), students at the University of Essex have had their rent reduced due to noise from a nearby construction site waking them up at hours as ‘early’ as 9:00am.

According to the source, those worst affected are receiving a £500 rent reduction a term, with others receiving reductions of £100 a term. The compensation has been met with a mixed response, with those affected welcoming the use of taxpayers’ money for the “exhaustion” it is causing to them.

One 19 year old Politics and International Relations student was quoted to have said “Sometimes I like a lie-in until noon, but if I try to do that now, I get woken up again and again.” She went on to say “It means you have to get up earlier because you can’t get back to sleep. It also makes it difficult to study in your own room.” If it is affecting the students’ ability to study in their own room, then I can sympathise with their situation.

On the flipside of the coin, there are some who have made their stance clear that the compensation is a waste of taxpayers’ money. According to the report, one part time student wrote to a local newspaper stating their views against the idea – “I’m woken up by noise at 6am every morning. It’s my alarm clock telling me to go to work or to the library. Stop being a bunch of saps.” Quite a strong opinion – but I can also see this point of view.

The source adds that 338 students are receiving the £500 reduction a term for the “disruption they have suffered”, and a further 56 are receiving similar reductions. The construction site appears to be part of a university development program, which would appear to be the reason as to why the university itself has arranged for the compensation for those affected.

There are of course other instances in which the victims of noise pollution are able to claim for compensation. But its plausible to suggest that the biggest cause of noise pollution is likely due to construction work – let’s face it, it’s a noisy business! So to give an example of another circumstance, let’s say major road works for 4 weeks are waking up the residents of an estate and generally causing a nuisance all day, then it’s possible the victims here can claim for the compensation they are entitled to for the inconvenience of the loud construction work.

So what should you do if you are being affected by noise pollution? Well, apart from trying to keep your cool from the stress of it all, it’s certainly a good idea to speak to an expert independent personal injury lawyer for advice on claiming. If the inconvenience is considerable, and the noise is nothing to do with you, then you may have a claim for compensation!

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