A Runcorn man has been ordered to remove his dogs from his property and prohibited from keeping any dogs at the property for five years.
Kevin Nolan, 59, was handed a five-year Criminal Behaviour Order applied for by Halton Borough Council. The Order states that he must remove all dogs from his home address on Runcorn Road in Daresbury and must not own, keep, participate in the keeping of dogs or be party to an arrangement under which he is entitled to control or influence the way in which dogs are kept on the property, whether on a permanent or temporary basis.
The Court heard that the Council’s Environmental Health team had received a number of complaints about noise from Mr Nolan’s dogs barking over a number of years. Environmental Health received a complaint in July 2022 which resulted in Mr Nolan being served with an abatement notice. Despite further warnings from Environmental Health Mr Nolan’s dogs continued to bark during the day and through the night causing a nuisance that resulted in alarm, distress and harassment to the witnesses.
On one occasion between 01:10hrs and 01:27hrs approximately 5,823 barks were recorded.
Mr Nolan pleaded guilty to seven breaches of his abatement notice and he was fined a total of £1,400. The Council was awarded costs of £1,051 and a £560 victim surcharge was applied.
A Halton Borough Council spokesperson said: “Noise nuisance can have a seriously detrimental effect on the health and wellbeing of people living in our communities . We hope that this recent case sends out a message that we will not hesitate to pursue robust enforcement action against the most serious and persistent offenders in order to protect the health and well-being of our residents.
“The Council would like to acknowledge the co-operation of the witnesses in this case which enabled the Council to fully investigate and resolve the matter.