Sports facility noise issue

Hi. Just wondering if there could be a couple of legal issues here in relation to apparent noise levels emanating from a local sports facility

I am a member of a local sports club that has facilities based in a school.
The facilities have been in the school for over 50 years and have been used by clubs and paying members of the public since then.

The facilities have been upgraded a couple of times, most recently about 8 or 9 years ago.

There are two issues of concern here that could have potential legal consequences.

1. A local resident who lives beside the facility has recently started to complain about the noise levels at the facility in the evenings. I would like to start by saying that nothing has changed in relation to the noise, or training times or flood light use in the last 8-9 years. It has been exactly the same.
He has made a number of complaints that have always been dealt with politely by the facility, with apologies offered an an attempt to reduce the noise being made.

We are logging the complaints and have always asked for name/address and telephone number of complainant but it is not always supplied.

We have implemented a couple of methods to reduce the noise (applying cushioning to deaden sound where balls are hitting off etc). We have also offered to sit down with the complainant twice and discuss the issues. Both cases he cancelled or was a no show.

About a month ago himself and his wife walked onto the pitch one evening which is private property and blocked one end of the training facility. The issues here are related to health and safety, insurance and trespassing.

2. Tonight he appeared on the grounds of the pitch (after not showing up at a scheduled meeting with us) and was filming the training session. Issues here relate to trespassing, insurance as well as the fact that we have a number of under 18's (boys and girls) playing and he has no permission from the facility, the school, or the minors parents to either be there or to film.

As above the club and facility have been there for years. There has been the odd complaint over the years which has been dealt with in an amicable manner. These complaints are new though and more frequent. They also appear to be from someone who has not been making complaints before in the past which suggests either they are new in the area, or all of a sudden they now have a problem.

A. I have checked the noise pollution guidelines/legislation and cant find anything in relation to times and levels of acceptable noise in a suburban area, especially in relation to a sports facility.

There are floodlights there and they automatically switch off at 10pm as that was part of the planning permission stipulations when the lights were replaced.

All noise is finished by then and the facility closes.

B. Is he legally allowed onto the property to protest/complain?

C. Surely there is a law governing the videoing/photography of minors without permission.

As above, we have tried to sit down with this guy and discuss the issues but he refuses to show up and instead is adopting quite an aggressive approach. We want to be compliant with any noise pollution guidelines.

any advice appreciated

Call the Garda next time he shows up. You seem to have done everything possible to placate them and failed. If the Garda won't get involved in a trespass issue then you may have to get legal and try and get an injunction.

B. Is he legally allowed onto the property to protest/complain?
Probably no issue with him coming onto the property as long as he conducts himself in a reasonable manner, i.e. seeks out a steward to make a verbal complaint, as any member of the public might do to inquire about membership, opening times etc. Blocking other people's use of the facility is not acceptable and strays into trespass tec.

C. Surely there is a law governing the videoing/photography of minors without permission; This is very complex area but rule of thumb is that it is not acceptable to film people on private property, it is especially unacceptable to film minors without parental consent.

In both cases, the individual should be approached by a steward and asked to desist from the offending activity after which the Gardai should be called to deal with him. The gravity of filming minors without consent should be highlighted to him.

As you say, this may be a new resident in the area OR it may be a longstanding resident who has been recently offended by activity, language, attitude of some members using the facility or some other grievance. There may be more to this than meets the eye. I am not a lawyer as may well be pointed out here soon enough so your club should take legal advice.

@rustbucket - you have given a fair bit of information but at same time important facts are omitted. Quite simply are you a hockey club or a car speedway club and whats your legal structure?

Who owns the land? If its the school you are all there by licence of the owner or occupier and this guy could also happen to have a right of entry, so this guy should formally have his license revoked (if he has any permission) by the owner prefably. And he can be sued 'per se' as in no 'damage' needs to be proved - if this is a route you want to follow.

He could be asked to leave - and removed by force if needs be - hence our contributor mentioning the Garda. However, have all your facts lined up so that you dont defame the guy if it turns out he has as much right to be there as you.

There is of course the noise situation. As to whether thats excessive and you have been there for thousands of years maybe irrelevant. The place may be now built up and a lot of children etc - I don't know - but just becasue it was always this way does not mean he does not have a case. If you are a fan of Denning MR there is a fabulous cricket club case which you will love as quite frankly Denning was a fan of cricket- but it may not be followed here. What I mean is the current stuation may not be quite as you say. He may have lived here for many years - it could be age is affecting him (seriously) might be a family illness - I dont know. Unfortunately neither do you.

If you pursue a legal route therefore have your facts lined up.

On the other hand - formally write to him seeking a meeting to discuss matter. Keep the letter and send it 10 times if you have to.

You could be very conciliatory as there may be another issue at work here - for example some of the enthusaistic members may have threatened him or provoked him - and of course the Committee would be the last to find out.

Your case is far from clear. His case is far from clear.

What would I do:

- write a conciliatory letter - send it 10 times - once a couple of weeks.
- tell every member in the club not to have any cross words with guy
- put your best diplomat on the job - pretend its an IHU appeal and see if he can defuse it
- quietly do your research
- maybe then consult a solicitor.

Good advice WizardDR. Some of which we have already done, others we hadn't thought of but will certainly look at now.

I appreciate your points re age and circumstances, and of course over enthusiastic members may confuse matters more for both our club and of course the individual in question.

@rustbucket and if you want the Denning case let me know.

You or the legal entity involved (club, institution, etc) should engage a competent legal professional to advise.

@ajapale I love these one liners -

Almost certainly all that’s going on with the camera is that someone’s annoyed (perhaps unnecessarily so) and is very openly but vainly trying to gather “evidence”. Don’t pretend to be concerned about something you’re not concerned about to try to escalate the problem away.

10pm sounds inconsiderately late for a residential area despite the planning permission – how about finishing up earlier at 7 or 8. Or is finishing at 10pm non-negotiable? The sportsground is probably making it difficult to sleep before 10pm which is late for early morning workers.

Possibly you could look into seeing if there’s anything you could do to increase sound insulation in the neighbour’s house, upgrade windows etc.. but the thudding noise of a football will be difficult to block.

Presumably the children’s training matches are all over well before 10pm, so the late night problems are likely to do with privately organised adult leagues which have nothing to do with school or minors.

I’d not buy a house adjoining such a sportsground – another checkpoint in things to check when buying a house, probably all nice and quiet during the day it’s only in the evening do you notice the problem.

ashambles said:

Almost certainly all that’s going on with the camera is that someone’s annoyed (perhaps unnecessarily so) and is very openly but vainly trying to gather “evidence”. Don’t pretend to be concerned about something you’re not concerned about to try to escalate the problem away.

Irrespective of his reasons of video taping, he should not be doing it while minors are present. And if he must, he needs consent from the parents of those involved, (especially as it is on a school premises) which he does not have. Child protection guide lines and codes of conduct when dealing with minors in sport (in both schools, clubs and public facilities) clearly prohibit this kind of activity

10pm sounds inconsiderately late for a residential area despite the planning permission – how about finishing up earlier at 7 or 8. Or is finishing at 10pm non-negotiable? The sportsground is probably making it difficult to sleep before 10pm which is late for early morning workers.

Unfortunately it is not possible to finish up prior to 10. It is not every evening. It is two evenings a week that the facility is used to this time.

Possibly you could look into seeing if there’s anything you could do to increase sound insulation in the neighbour’s house, upgrade windows etc.. but the thudding noise of a football will be difficult to block.

We have taken measures already on the facility to reduce the noise. We are currently looking at taking increased measures to help reduce it further. I dont think it is reasonable to expect a local club to upgrade facilities in his own home.

Presumably the children’s training matches are all over well before 10pm, so the late night problems are likely to do with privately organised adult leagues which have nothing to do with school or minors.

Correct, however the complaints are not only made during the evening, but also during school time when there are school matches being played. There are also still minors (over 16) playing in the evening as part of the adult set up.

I’d not buy a house adjoining such a sportsground – another checkpoint in things to check when buying a house, probably all nice and quiet during the day it’s only in the evening do you notice the problem.

Click to expand...

As above the complaints have arisen at all times of the day. Have to agree with you though, I would not purchase a house so close to a facility like this either.

So it’s a bit of impasse. You’d agree that personally you might prefer not to live somewhere like this man lives due to the disturbance levels (though minor next to normal unsocial activity).

But if you’d be reluctant to live there I think this means you also know that there is nothing that will be done that will give him the quality of life he’d like. This is probably why he’s unwilling to negotiate since he’s realized your bottom line is not acceptable to him.

The only solution for the neighbour to get the quality of life he’d like is that he has to move – he needs to reconcile himself to that. I suppose threatening to brand him as a paedophile would speed that along, but still seems a little harsh.

ashambles said:

So it’s a bit of impasse. You’d agree that personally you might prefer not to live somewhere like this man lives due to the disturbance levels (though minor next to normal unsocial activity).

But if you’d be reluctant to live there I think this means you also know that there is nothing that will be done that will give him the quality of life he’d like. This is probably why he’s unwilling to negotiate since he’s realized your bottom line is not acceptable to him.

The only solution for the neighbour to get the quality of life he’d like is that he has to move – he needs to reconcile himself to that. I suppose threatening to brand him as a paedophile would speed that along, but still seems a little harsh.

Click to expand...

I have no opinion on whether the indvidual moves house or not. It is not a suggestion I have made, nor would I. That is entirely up to him.

This issue (his complaints) has only arisen in the last 3 months. The facility has been in use in exactly the same way and the exact same times for the last 8 or 9 years since its redevelopment.

This would suggest to me that he has only recently moved into the area or has decided to complain about soemthing that really should have been dealt with at plannign stage (when being re-developed) or soon after the facility was in use. Why it has become such an issue for him now I dont know.

There is nothing in anything I have posted above which would suggest that there is an intention to brand him as a paedophile.

The simple fact is that if he wants to record he is welcome to do so. However, he has to get the consent of every single parent of those that are minors. If I wanted to record the training session I would have to do the same.

Similarly if it was just adults, he would still require permission as it is private property.

As above, we have tried to engage and he has turned down opportunities to meet. Instead he has chosen to be relatively confrontational in his approach.

I think the suggestion by ajapale is the only option we have. As I have said before. We want to be compliant legally and make sure we are not in breach of any planning conditions or environmental legislation