Tower Hamlets: A Service Still Asking About Attendance After the Event Series Had Ended

Tower Hamlets' own correspondence provides a separate line of evidence about whether its environmental-protection arrangements were effective in practice.

On 24 August Suriah Choudhury of the Pollution Team wrote that the Out of Hours team had still not been in touch regarding the light-nuisance assessment despite a referral having been sent to them, apologised and said she would chase the team.

25 August

At 10:17 on Tuesday 25 August, after the final advertised event on Sunday 23 August, Environmental Protection Officer Yale Sherlock asked:

Btw, have the OOH Officers been contacted to witness the loud music within your property?

By then the advertised event series had ended. The question encapsulates the concern repeatedly raised while the events were actually taking place: an investigation system is of limited value if the service is still discussing how to witness the complained-of noise after the opportunity to witness that event has passed.

The same email said there was no escalation process in the Environmental Protection Noise Team and that the officer did not believe there was a specific condition concerning bass.

The legal issue

The issue is not whether Tower Hamlets had policies or telephone numbers on paper. It is whether those arrangements produced a practical and timely investigation of alleged statutory nuisance within the affected home while the interference was occurring.