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OFFICIAL ACCEPTANCE of a DEDICATED 1800 NOISE REPORT HOTLINE (as proposed by a Hobart anti-Noise activist in her Submission) EPP Review Panel Report on Draft EPP (Noise) During the hearing in relation to the Draft Policy it was suggested that there should be a dedicated phone line for noise complaints and ideally one section within the Department that receives and deals with such complaints. Submission (WS30) stated: To facilitate consistency of application by regulatory authorities, an independent Noise Unit must, as a matter of urgency, be established within the Department of Environment accountable to the people and the parliament. A dedicated Noise Unit would provide and maintain a Statewide 1800 environment noise hotline calls for assistance would be received by a duty officer who would refer complainants for immediate assistance to the relevant local rostered authorised investigating officer. All complaints to the 1800 number would be tracked for customer satisfaction. The local authorised officer would be responsible to send his/her report to the Noise Unit on the case of a municipal employee and a duplicate report in the case of police. It was also suggested during the hearing held on the 6 July that many noise complaints especially neighbourhood noise complaints should initially be dealt with via mediation between the parties. It was suggested that this could be conducted by Local Government or possibly under the jurisdiction of the RMPAT. Whilst the suggestions of a dedicated Noise Unit and mediation as a step in the process of dealing with neighbourhood noise in particular are somewhat beyond the jurisdiction of the Panel in terms of its requirement to assess the Draft Policy as put before it, the Panel believes these suggestions have merit. Environment Protection Policy Review Panel Assessment of the Draft Environment Protection Policy (Noise) and Impact Statement December 2006 Recommendation The Panel recommends that the Department should, as a priority, establish a dedicated phone line for noise complaints and investigate the feasibility of establishing a dedicated Noise Unit and establishing a Register of noise complaints. The Panel also recommends that the Department investigate the feasibility of establishing mediation procedures as an early step in dealing with noise complaints, in particular neighbourhood noise complaints. |