Council Still Protecting The Hamptons Mosque !
So let’s remind you all again of what happened during the Eid celebrations at the Hamptons Mosque on 16/06/24, following the cancellation of the planned Eid in the Park event for bad weather.
The call to prayer
So despite previous assurances that the call to prayer wouldn’t be broadcast outside of the mosque, it was.
And boy was it loud. So loud that it could be heard half way down Tydemans, and virtually the whole length of Monfort Drive. Check out the first 10 seconds of the video, recorded with just a mobile phone.
The PA speaker was inside the louvred grey doors, facing towards residential properties, a little over 20 feet away. It was so loud that there could be no doubt where the sound was coming from !
And here’s where things turn a little surreal.
The Hamptons Apology
We posted our video on Facebook which the noise nuisance was still ongoing on 16/06, but it took Hamptons Sports and Leisure Ltd a further 24 hours to come up with the most ridiculous explanation ever and post it on Facebook.
The key points here are:
It didn’t connect itself to the PA system, so who did connect it ?
Why was it facing the residential properties, another accident ?
Why did no one identify the source of the noise nuisance and act promptly to shut it off ?
In our opinion it shows an enormous degree of contempt towards the local residents. A local resident popped into the Parkway Mosque over the weekend, and everyone was really embarrassed about the use of the call to prayer and the ridiculous excuse offered by Hamptons.
And surprise surprise here’s the council response
We know that quite a number of local residents filed noise complaints, and a response quickly was fired out by Lindsay Coyle, Community Protection Regulatory Officer at Chelmsford City Council.
Now we are a little confused that Lindsay has just accepted Hamptons bonkers explanation, and not properly investigated the situation, and why is Lindsay trotting out Hampton’s apology on their behalf ? But wait, here’s a different explanation offered by Cllr Young:
“We (CMS) have been investigating this issue today to try and understand what happened.
We had the building sound system connected to the tannoy and this was tested within the building on Friday by our sound technician.
No sound could be heard outside during the testing.
We then had reports by some of the attendees they could hear it outside and the sound was lowered but later raised again and then lowered”
And again we’d point out:
If the speaker wasn’t connected on Friday during the sound test, who did connect it ?
This information contradicts the previous information from the Hamptons apology, CMS did know the speaker was active and where it was !
why aren’t the council following their own protocol for noise complaints
Taken from “How We Deal With Noise Complaints” Chelmsford City Council
Once we receive your complaint, we will:
acknowledge your complaint within three working days
investigate your complaint and decide if the noise is causing a statutory nuisance
inform you of our decision. As all complaints have their own complexities, we will keep you up to date with our investigations as they progress.
We will keep your details confidential, but in some cases, it may be obvious who has made the complaint.
We will send a letter to you and to the person responsible for the noise.
The letter to the person responsible for the noise will inform them of the alleged nuisance, and ask them to stop.
The letter to you will include noise log sheets and details on how to sign up to the Noise App.
If the noise continues after we have written to the person responsible, you will need to keep the log for 14 days.
The log includes:
what the noise is
the date of the noise
the time the noise started
the time the noise ended
We will use the information on your log to:
help us to determine that the noise is a statutory nuisance
help us identify the best time to visit to witness the noise
If the noise is a statutory nuisance, we will serve an abatement notice. The notice means that the person responsible for the noise has to stop.
If the person responsible for the noise does not stop, we will begin legal proceedings. We will notify you if we take legal proceedings, as we may have to reveal your identity.
Now none of this is included in the email to residents from Lindsay Coyle, and the statement that there is no action the council can take is bullshit ! We’d ask:
Why is there no determination that a Statutory Noise Nuisance has taken place ?
Why no warning letter for “excessive noise” has been sent to Hamptons or if a SNN is proven why has no abatement letter been issued.
Why residents have not been provided with the proper guidance and materials to log further noise problems ?
The definition a Statutory Noise Nuisance:
For the issue to count as a statutory nuisance it must do one of the following:
unreasonably and substantially interfere with the use or enjoyment of a home or other premises
injure health or be likely to injure health
The Council have a duty of care to residents
As the local authority, Chelmsford City Council have a duty of care to residents. The Human Rights Act 1998, makes it unlawful for a public authority to act in a way which is incompatible with the European Convention on Human Rights. The council must ensure that human rights issues have been considered, with particular reference to:
Article 1 of the First Protocol (Protection of property),
Article 8 (Right to respect for private and family life)