A YORK MP has urged residents and businesses in the city to keep the noise down as part of a week-long national campaign.

Noise Action Week has been organised by the charity Environmental Protection UK to encourage people to consider the effect the noise they make has on others.

The campaign comes after City of York Council received 2,309 noise complaints during 2010/11, 19 per cent more than the previous year, with 79 noise abatement notices issued and 12 prosecutions and seizures of noisy equipment being made.

York Central MP Hugh Bayley said he received “scores of complaints every year” about noisy neighbours.

Mr Bayley said: “The most frequent are about barking dogs, loud music or TV, shouting, banging doors and DIY activities.

“I also get complaints about businesses, sometimes pubs, and a couple of weeks ago it was about freight trains waiting at night near houses with the locomotive still running, sometimes for hours at a time.

“Everybody can expect some noise, but unfortunately some people are thoughtless or unreasonable and that is where City of York Council’s environmental protection unit can help.”

To contact the unit, phone 01904 551555, or email environmental.protection@york.gov.uk