COMPLAINTS over noisy neighbours in York shot up during the first year of the coronavirus pandemic - sparked by “raised tensions”.

City of York Council recorded 2,721 noise complaints linked to neighbours between April 2020 and March this year, according to new figures - up 15 per cent on the year before.

That was 1,290 complaints for every 100,000 people and a jump from 2,376 complaints the year before.

A spokeswoman for the council said the increase was due to both “raised tensions” at the height of the pandemic and more people working from home.

It reflects the national picture with 368,000 noise complaints - a 28 per cent rise in just one year - lodged to 267 councils across the UK.

It comes as the Local Government Association (LGA), which represents local authorities, said councils were working to tackle the problem.

Nesil Caliskan, from the LGA, said: “With many people living in high density, urban areas, complaints about noise nuisance are common.

“Councils are doing what they can to respond to noise complaints in communities, and to tackle persistent behaviour that makes people’s lives a misery.”

Tanya Lyon, community safety manager at City of York Council, said: “In line with national trends, York did experience an increase in domestic noise complaints over the last 18 months. “This rise was a result of the combination of raised tensions during the pandemic and significantly more people working from home. With many people being in closer proximity to their neighbours we saw an increase in conflicts between those working from home and those not.

“We also saw an increase in complaints once people began to socialise outdoors and in their gardens as the noise generated tended to carry more than if they were meeting indoors.

“With restrictions lifted and many residents returning to their normal routines the number of reports is now decreasing to normal levels.”

The data comes from a Freedom of Information request submitted to hundreds of local authorities by Churchill Home Insurance.

Steven Williams, from Churchill, said: “The pandemic has seen us confined to our homes which means we’ve probably all become very aware of noises around us.

“As we go into more of a ‘new normal’, many of us will carry on working from home, at least part of the time, so noisy neighbours will continue to be really disruptive.

“It may be the case that neighbours don’t realise they are being noisy, so the first step should always be speaking to them and explaining the problem.

“If that doesn’t work and they carry on, then keep a record of the type of noise and time of day and speak to your local council about raising a potential noise complaint.”

Based on the number of statutory nuisance complaints linked to neighbourly noise, the figures suggest the place with the noisiest neighbours in the UK was Kensington and Chelsea, where more than 15,000 complaints were made, roughly 9,900 for every 100,000 people.

The Government has assembled the Interdepartmental Panel on Costs and Benefits (Noise) to consider the implications of the latest evidence around noise.

It will use the findings to update Government guidance where necessary.

Local authorities are responsible for investigating complaints about issues that could be a statutory nuisance and have a duty to carry out inspections to detect and investigate nuisance complaints, including those concerning excessive noise.

You can contact City of York Council’s Noise Patrol department by calling 01904 551555 or emailing neo@york.gov.uk