NOISY neighbours and rowdy pubs will be issued with on-the-spot fines if they are caught disturbing residents at night.
Stoke-on-Trent City Council has a new team to tackle night-time noise.
And its officials will hand out fixed penalty notices of up to �100 to those who create a noise nuisance between the hours of 11pm and 7am.
The authority receives 4,000 complaints a year about noise – and 1,200 of those complaints are about disturbances between 8pm and 2am.
The most common complaints are about people playing loud music and neighbours having the volume on their television turned up too high. Other frequent complaints include people shouting.
Head of regulatory services Martyn Brindley says the team will initially operate from 8pm to 2am on Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays, Sundays, and maybe Mondays, but will work later if necessary.
Although officers cannot issue fines until 11pm, they will be able to warn people that they face an immediate penalty if they continue making noise.
Mr Brindley said: "We will be able to deal with the bulk of these 1,200 complaints. Officers will knock on a person's door and tell them they are in danger of committing an offence and give them a warning notice.
"They might give them half-an-hour or 10 minutes to stop the noise. If the noise is still there when they come back, they will give them the option of paying a fixed penalty notice or else they will be prosecuted in court."
Mr Brindley said the work carried out in the team, which has two full-time officers and a supervisor, will be much more immediate than the current system.
Training for the night-time noise team, which has already been appointed, will start in the New Year. Officials are expected to be issuing fines from mid-January.
A budget of �80,000 has been allocated to the project for the first year, although this includes set-up costs, including buying vehicles for the officers.
The team will be linked up to Stoke On Call, the council's 24-hour helpline. And officers will also patrol known trouble-spots and noisy night-time venues to monitor sound levels.
Councillor Terry Follows, cabinet member for environment, waste management and neighbourhood services, said: "The team should be able to speed up what is at the moment a drawn-out system of complaints and evidence gathering."
Jim Gibson, pictured below, chairman of Chell Heath Residents' Association, said: "I think most residents in the city will welcome this initiative.
"I just hope the money they receive from fines will be put to good causes in the communities."
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