Report a dust nuisance

If an industrial, trade or business premises is generating excessive amounts of dust, you can report it to us for investigation (link to online form below).

The dust may be classed as a statutory nuisance under the Environmental Protection Act 1990 if it is a regular problem which is substantially affecting your health or well-being, or interfering with the use and enjoyment of your home. 

We can serve an abatement notice on the people responsible for the nuisance, which requires them to either stop or limit the times of the activity to help reduce the problem. 

We cannot investigate dust from domestic properties.

Dust at construction sites

We can investigate complaints about a dust nuisance from commercial premises, including building sites. Often conditions relating to dust control are attached to planning permission being granted, so you may also want to speak to a planning officer

The amount of dust generated by a construction site can be reduced by the following on-site practices:

  • installing wheel washing facilities at site entrances/exits
  • water spraying haul roads and stockpiles
  • reducing speeds on haul roads
  • seeding stockpiles for long-term cover
  • seeding stockpiles with bonding agents
  • sheeting vehicles
  • using sealed or sheeted containers/skips for waste materials
  • erecting barriers or sheeting around works
  • using chutes to move materials
  • fitting and maintaining grit and dust arrestment plant

Dust from industrial processes

Industrial processes which generate a lot of dust, such as the crushing of concrete, operate under an environmental permit. This means they are exempt from nuisance legislation. However, if excessive dust carries beyond the premises the permit may have been breached and we can investigate.

If your complaint relates to dust generated by a site handling waste, the site operators should have an environmental permit. To check whether your complaint represents a breach of permit conditions you can:

Make a complaint

If you have a complaint dust, please contact the Public Health & Regulation Team:

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Page last updated: 07 May 2021

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