Hammersmith and Fulham UK's Most Sleep Disturbed Area


More noise complaints per head than anywhere else


There were over 10,000 reports in the borough in one year

December 14, 2022

A newly published survey has shown that the borough Hammersmith & Fulham has the highest number of noise complaints per head of any local authority area in the country.

Last year, there were over 10,000 complaints logged by residents which is the equivalent of 5% of the population. This was well above the next highest area which was Newham. The most frequent complaints were due to loud music, followed by domestic complaints, and parties.

The analysis was conducted as part of a broader study by Sleepseeker. It has conducted the research by using a combination of publicly available information and Freedom of Information requests to city councils to determine the internal and external disturbances keeping the nation up at night.

It analysed the top 50 most populated local authorities, as well as all the local authorities in London, regarding the total number of noise complaints, as well as the different types of complaints they had received during the 2021 calendar year.

The Most Sleep-disturbed London Boroughs
Rank Local Authority Population Noise Complaints Noise Complaints per 100,000 People
1 Hammersmith and Fulham
183,200
10,141
5,536
2 Newham
351,100
14,753
4,202
3 Lambeth
317,600
12,017
3,784
4 Barking and Dagenham
218,900
7,685
3,511
5 Camden
210,100
6,122
2,914
6 Wandsworth
327,500
6,137
1,874
7 Merton
215,200
2,725
1,266
8 Greenwich
289,100
3,595
1,244
9 Enfield
330,000
4,017
1,217
10 Haringey
264,200
3,215
1,217

The top ten boroughs nationally for complaints were all in London with H&F having twice the number of complaints per head than Aberdeen, the city that ranked the highest elsewhere. By contrast, Norwich had just 100 complaints for the whole of the year.

The most common complaint was for music noise with over 35,000 nationally followed by domestic noise such as raised voices, banging, loud televisions and radios, and DIY activities which saw over 17,000 complaints,

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