When you Should Contact Environmental Health

If you have already read a number of articles contained on this website, you will have begun to realise that your local authority’s environmental health department covers a vast remit and they are, most often, your first port of call if you are experiencing problems with your neighbours or within the community as a whole.

Here is a list of the types of issues they deal with and, it is often far quicker to obtain a resolution if you contact your environmental health department first as opposed to calling the police when dealing with the matters below.

In fact, in most instances, even if you call the police, they might refer you back to the environmental health department even though they may get involved in certain circumstances concerning some of these issues later, if the department is unable to resolve the matters itself.

Air Quality

If your enjoyment of your own property is being affected by a neighbour’s bonfire or barbecue or if an industrial chimney is causing a problem.

Contaminated Land

Where you suspect that chemicals or associated materials have polluted either a water supply or have contaminated land.

Dogs

If you have a problem with a dangerous or nuisance dog in your area or you have been attacked or been threatened by an attack from a dog. You’d also contact the department if you are concerned about persistent dog fouling outside your house or on local parks.

Food Standards

If you are concerned about the hygiene of a particular business which is manufacturing and/or selling food or drink to the public or you have suffered a health problem as a result of you suspecting that you’ve eaten contaminated food.

Noise

If you are suffering from the effects of excessive noise as the result of a neighbour’s party, loud music, a nearby factory or some other kind of business which is generating excessive noise or if you have an incessantly barking dog in the neighbourhood.

Pest Control

If your own home or a nearby property has been plagued by pests which could be anything from a wasps’ nest to rodent control.

Flytipping

If flytipping has occurred on your street or if you suspect a neighbour to be guilty of flytipping elsewhere.

Graffiti and Flyposting

If graffiti or flyposting is happening in your area, your environmental health department will also deal with this.

Litter

If a neighbour is guilty of not disposing of their household waste correctly or if you are experiencing a lot of litter on your property or street as the result of a business nearby where their litter isn’t being managed properly.

Of course, in many of these instances, the problem can often be resolved by speaking to the relevant neighbour or nearby business first. However, where you’re unable to obtain a satisfactory resolution to a particular problem from the person(s) involved, be that a neighbour or a nearby business or you don’t know who might be responsible for causing the problem, then all of the above fall under the jurisdiction of your local authority’s environmental health department and they have the powers and the weight of the law behind them to begin an investigation and to enforce a resolution, be that through the courts, if necessary.