It’s likely that whoever penned the proverb ‘a good laugh and a long sleep are the best cures in the doctor’s book’ didn’t live in Soho, and certainly not nowadays. They would for sure be very short on humour trying to get a good night’s kip hereabouts. Gillian Smith shares more on the results from The Soho Society‘s recent Sleep Survey, and ways to effectively report noise issues.
Soho Sleep Survey – 60% of respondents say that sleep deprivation from noise nuisance is adversely impacting their health
Given the near-constant clamour, sleep deprivation for residents has always been an issue, but the decibel level has risen so much in recent years that it’s leading to major health problems. So much so that the Soho Society recently commissioned a survey so locals could have their say about their interrupted nights and subsequent exhaustion during daylight hours.
87 people responded, of whom 78 were Soho residents with ages spread fairly evenly from 22 to 80. 59% have lived in Soho for more than a decade. Of these, a whopping 80% have their sleep disturbed at least once a week, while 24% of respondents are woken up seven nights a week.
69% of respondents agreed that during the time they have lived in Soho noise pollution has got significantly worse.46% of respondents agreed that the cacophony is so bad that they have considered moving away from the area. 68% of respondents agreed that the council should renew its noise strategy as a matter of some urgency.
The most common causes mentioned were street drinking, pedicabs, waste collections, construction noise, car horns and deliveries. Other noise sources identified were air conditioning, motorbikes revving, building alarms and music from licensed venues.
The additional comments section included responses such as:
“Regularly now there are traffic jams in the street at 3am with cars picking up people leaving clubs. The cars frequently are using their horns… we have two motorbike stands close together. There is always at least one bike revving up at either 3am or really early like 530am. This noise has changed and increased over the past three to four years. I am woken up most nights. And I have double glazing and live on a high floor.”
“Early hours waste collections (including bottle smashing) also mean food & beverage businesses putting their waste in the street and bottle bins at anti-social hours ahead of collection times. Our local restaurants are not supposed to put bottles out between the hours of 23:00 and 07:00 but they frequently do.“
“Unfortunately, my lack of sleep due to noise has caused serious health issues and I now cannot work and suffer anxiety and depression.“
“I’ve lived in Soho for 60 years… born and bred. It’s never been this noisy!“
In terms of trying to solve or at least mitigate the issue, there have been three meetings since April 2022 with residents, the Society, the council’s traffic team, environmental health team, noise team, licensing team, neighbourhood co-ordinator, the police and Shaftesbury about noise issues at this location related to construction, deliveries and dispersals. Agreement has yet to be reached.
Report It
The Soho Society offers advice on reporting noise issues through Westminster City Council (The Soho Society newsletter Oct 2022).
“Report It” – the Council’s noise reporting service isn’t working – here is our advice
Westminster City Council has a system called Report It for reporting noise issues. Unfortunately it appears to be mainly designed for long duration events (like house parties greater than 2 hours) which can be visited by a noise officer who will attempt to resolve the issue at the time. It is less effective for the repetitive short duration disruptions suffered by Soho residents.
We are very aware the system isn’t working well for Soho residents and that noise issues are going unreported because residents have given up in frustration.
However there is a real problem if people give up on reporting. The data collected through the noise reporting process is extremely important because it provides the basic statistics that inform the council’s decisions on planning, licensing and environmental health.
So although it’s deeply frustrating it is important to engage with the process. Here are our suggestions in how to do so, whilst minimising the impact on your already disturbed sleep.
There are two ways to log complaints. Online (day or night), and on the out of hours phone number at night only. You aren’t able to talk to anyone during the day.
Calling 020 7641 2000 at night (due to drunken shouting, pedicabs, deliveries etc):
- Provide name, address and incident.
- State that you would like it placed on record; and
- if you want to get back to sleep you can say you would NOT like a call back
Completing online form during day:
- Register (first timers only, will be easier next time) and provide the information on the form.
- You can tick the option to not be called back
The event will still be recorded whether they call you back or not. We appreciate these processes can be laborious and frustrating. Especially given the people answering calls at night are unfamiliar with the area, and the council’s online system is sometimes down.
Any videos you take at night of noise and its causes can be emailed to noise@thesohosociety.org.uk
Remember, it is important to record the issues and gather evidence as this WILL be presented at licensing hearings. If there is no evidence then the environmental health team will (as they have done previously) claim that no one is impacted.In addition the council is running a consultation about “Report It” more generally (see below on Fairer Westminster) – we strongly encourage you to respond.
The consultation is at https://www.westminster.gov.uk/report-it-survey
We hope that the council’s consultation will take into account these issues and the system will be improved.
Studies have shown a close relationship between sleep and mental health. A good night’s sleep should be a basic right for everyone, regardless of living in the heart of London.
Hopefully some progress will be made towards more silent nights.
For more info on the sleep survey, noise issues in Soho, and upcoming meetings, e-mail the Soho Society at noise@thesohosociety.org.uk.
Written by Gillian Smith | @gillianasmith_
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