Anti-social behaviour can be a number of things such as litter, fly-tipping, drinking in the street, nuisance neighbours, noise, abandoned vehicles, threatening behaviour.
Anti-social behaviour or criminal damage
Call Northumbria Police on 101 if there is anti social behaviour in the street or for any other sort of crime. Call 999 if it is more serious/ emergency.
The police won’t usually come out for noise from dwellings – such as noisy parties – unless these have spilled out onto the street.
Contact Newcastle City Council’s Noise Team to report noise from dwellings (unless people have spilled out onto the street).
The Council’s Noise Team no longer operates a regular night time service.
But you can call to make the complaint at night – by dialling 0191 278 7878 – and it will be followed up the next day.
Alternatively you can telephone the next day when you will be able to speak to a member of the council’s Noise Team.
You can also contact the Noise Team by email : psr@newcastle.gov.uk.
Once a complaint is taken either by Northumbria Police or the council’s Noise Team and it is about a student household, the Police and Noise Team will liaise with each other and the Universities, so you should only have to make to make one call or email.
Any resident who is concerned about continuing noise/ anti-social behaviour which don’t seem to be rectified should contact one of the Ward Councillors.
Read more about anti-social behaviour on the Northumbria Police website.
Read more about reducing anti-social behaviour on the Northumbria Police & Crime Commissioner website.
Operation Oak during term time
Newcastle and Northumbria universities work with Northumbria Police to fund more ‘bobbies on the beat’ in key student areas across the city.
Operation Oak is a £50,000 joint initiative which pays for extra patrols on Friday and Saturday nights during term time.
Responding to concerns from local residents the aim is to make sure noise is kept to a minimum to help maintain the good student-resident relations that have been built up.
Operation Oak emergency number
The Operation Oak emergency anti-social behaviour contact number is: 07504 898148.
It is available between 11:00pm and 4:30am on Friday and Saturday nights.
Please text this number rather than call, as the Police/Council Officers may be attending a different incident and may not be able to answer a call immediately.
If you send a text they will respond at the earliest opportunity.
General noise, nuisance or other complaints to the universities
You can also contact both universities directly.
Newcastle University Student Progress Service – email casework@ncl.ac.uk.
Northumbria University – contact Northumbria University’s Crime Prevention Team to report noise nuisance or antisocial behaviour.
You can read about Newcastle University’s Community Living initiatives and information for residents.
You can also read more about Newcastle University’s Student Progress Noise Nuisance and Anti-social behavour policies.
You can read about Northumbria University students and their role in the community.
Report a noice problem to the Council
As noted above, Newcastle City Council also operates a noise service (the Noise Team).
Officers may use the Noise Act 1996 to issue warning notices and £110 fixed penalty notices if your neighbours refuse to turn down their noise.
An extension of the Noise Act came into force in February 2008, enabling local authorities in England and Wales to tackle night time noise from licensed premises.
Report a problem with noise to the Council
You can contact the Newcastle City Council Noise Team on: 0191 278 7878.
Staff are available from 08:30 and 16:30 (Monday to Friday).
Calls received after this time are dealt with by a 24-hour Call Centre staffed by ‘Your Homes Newcastle’ and are sent to the relevant City Council team for investigation the next day.
What is noise nuisance
A noise nuisance is an unreasonable amount of noise from a domestic or commercial property which affects your life in a significant way.
It can be upsetting and is more than a simple annoyance.
The main factors which will be considered by officers at Newcastle City Council are
- Time of day
- Location
- Duration of each noise event
- Volume of the noise
- Character of the noise
- Frequency of noise events
General everyday living noise such as footsteps, banging doors, flushing toilets, talking and children playing cannot be dealt with formally except in very exceptional circumstances.
It is not always necessary for officers to take noise readings to establish if a noise nuisance exists. The judgement of an experienced and independent officer is enough to determine if a noise is a nuisance or not.
What can you do?
Before contacting the City Council you may wish to contact the person responsible for causing the noise and explain politely that you are being troubled by it.
Although you may find this difficult it is surprising how often neighbours are unaware of the problems they are causing.
Most will be glad to do what they can to reduce the noise and appreciate a personal approach rather than involving the council’.
If the noise continues you may write to them and ask them to stop making the noise nuisance.
If this does not work you can report a noise issue online.
Please be aware that Newcastle City Council does not act on anonymous complaints.
Following receipt of your complaint the council will write to the property which you are complaining about. You will be asked to give permission for this to be done, if you do not give permission your complaint will be recorded but no further action will be taken.
Read more about noise complaints on the Newcastle City Council website.
Safe Newcastle
Safe Newcastle coordinate the work around anti-social behaviour across Newcastle upon Tyne and the team that deals with issues and complaints.
They take different actions against people who commit anti-social behaviour, including the use of Closure Orders for problem premises, Civil Injunctions to prohibit certain behaviours and eviction. They also work with a specialist solicitor when obtaining Civil Injunctions to ensure offenders are more likely to pay for their actions.
Newcastle City Council share information so that all partners have consistent up-to-date details of victims and offenders and can offer the right support or take the correct action, an example of this is that they offer victims specialist support through a dedicated ASB Victim Support Worker.
Read more about anti social behaviour on the Safe Newcastle website.