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The Noise App is here to make complaining about your neighbours even easier

Could this new, easy to use app give you the tools to finally silence your noisy neighbours? Residents in Mitchell, Cardinia, Moira and Surf Coast councils are already giving it a try, with more to follow.

The Noise App lets you dob your noisy neighbours into council from your smartphone.
The Noise App lets you dob your noisy neighbours into council from your smartphone.

Victorians are now able to dob in noisy neighbours using an app that promises to revolutionise councils’ complaints systems.

Everything from barking dogs to raucous parties and passionate trysts are being recorded by residents in five local councils as they trial The Noise App.

The app allows registered users to capture infuriating rackets on their smartphones and send a file, stamped with the date and time, straight to councils’ databases.

Casey Council has been trialling the app since January, with 157 public users already registering and 414 recordings being made for 104 cases in the first six months.

The trial has been a huge success, according to Peter Wright from Casey’s Environmental Health team, who says it has worked well for residents.

“The community prefer apps now rather than having to speak with someone. The power is in their hands,” Mr Wright said.

The Noise App lets you dob your noisy neighbours into council from your smartphone.
The Noise App lets you dob your noisy neighbours into council from your smartphone.

Mitchell, Cardinia, Moira and Surf Coast councils are also trialling the system, with more expected to launch it.

One Casey resident who had used the app said it had been “pleasing” to see a quick response.

“We have submitted ­numerous complaints about the same issue over a long period of time and are happy that our issue was taken up as a result of the new noise app,” the resident wrote.

Music was heard on half of the recordings made over the six-month period.

Casey received 525 noise complaints during the 2018 calendar year and 330 noise complaints to July 31 this year.

The app has been brought to Australia from the UK by environmental health firm Kernow.

Until now, councils across the state dealt with noise ­complaints using a paper log system, which was often ­laborious and unfulfilling for residents.

“It was a very old-school, antiquated way of dealing with this,” Kernow general manager Wes Old said.

“A lot of human resources and energy were put into it. It’s very emotional; sometimes it’s very hard to prove.”

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Kernow sells the app to councils, then it is free for residents to download and use.

Mr Old expects many more councils to take it up after its national launch next month.

“We can investigate noise and nuisances from the desk,” he said.

“It’s about giving customers or residents the power to manage their noise complaints and give us a little bit more ­evidence.”

tamsin.rose@news.com.au

@tamsinroses

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Original URL: https://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/victoria/the-noise-app-is-here-to-make-complaining-about-your-neighbours-even-easier/news-story/5556cbfeb35f1ccaca50703373f231b5