Light and smell disturbance

Our antisocial behaviour team may be able to investigate if you’re disturbed often by:  

• artificial light  
• smoke 
• dust and smells from commercial or industrial properties  

We can only investigate nuisances that:  

• are unreasonable and greatly interfere with the use or enjoyment of your home or other premises  
• injure health or are likely to injure health  

Artificial light   

Artificial light disturbance is when bright light shines on your home affecting the enjoyment of your home.  

An example is a security light shining into a bedroom window affecting your sleep.  

See information on how councils deal with artificial light nuisance complaints on GOV.UK.

Smells  

Disturbing smells can be caused by:  

• commercial kitchens and places where food is processed 
• paints and solvents from garages or workshops   
• extraction ducts from restaurants, cafes etc
• takeaway premises

We do not investigate:

• cooking smells from someone's home
• cigarette smoke

See information on how councils deal with smell complaints on GOV.UK.

Make a complaint

Before you make a complaint, make sure you've gathered supporting evidence – find out what evidence to collect on the ASB (antisocial behaviour) Help website. 

To complete a report you need: 

• your evidence
• police reference number if you reported it to the police 
• to tell us 
  • when the disturbance happened – date and time  
  • who was affected  
  • how the disturbance made you feel  

Complete our online antisocial behaviour form to make a complaint. 

Report now

After making a complaint

After receiving your report we aim to assess it within 24 hours and will contact you within 5 working days.  

If we can help you with the issue, we'll give your case to one of our officers and they'll keep you updated on progress.  

If we can’t help you with the issue, we'll let you know.  

If you made an anonymous report, we cannot give you an update.