IT can unhinge people; it has been used as a refined instrument of torture; it has caused murder; it causes more neighbourhood trouble than anything else; it can force people out of their homes.

IT IS NOISE.

Now a crackdown on neighbour noise - on-the-spot fines, confiscation of equipment and maximum court fines of £1,000 under the Noise Bill - is on the way to becoming law after getting its third reading in the house of Commons on Friday.

And for very many councils, Bolton included, the Bill's pilot, Ealing North Tory Harry Greenway, is something of a national hero.

This maximum court fine is £4,000 less than the one imposed under the present Environmental Protection Act, but is an extra power and the £5,000 fine will still be in place (which noisemongers should note).

Noise is on every environmentalist's agenda and the most common factor in neighbour disputes.

Just weeks ago, a Bolton man spent two nights in custody for playing loud music. Last year a Breightmet man "snapped" when a woman neighbour played incessant loud music and he lobbed bricks through her open window, finally ending up in court himself.

Selfishness is at the root of the problem. People who would by horrified if someone else dictated their TV viewing, radio programmes and music, will turn up the volume of their own without a thought that they are inflicting their choice on others. The National Society for Clean Air and Environmental Protection publish helpful leaflets which help sufferers define problems and advises them what may be done.

Complaints to local authorities about noisy neighbours have more than trebled over a decade, from 42,000 in 1984 to 131,000 in 1994. Noisy hi-fis, TVs and barking dogs top the list of nuisances.

Other noise comes from industrial or commercial premises; the constant revving of vans or the whining of electrical equipment.

Derbyshire glass processing company, Plyglass, termed noise "The Unseen Violence" and marshalled a formidable report calling for tough action and confirming investment in the development of noise control glass.

Their report said there was evidence noise had even hit house prices.

It concluded: "The supreme irony is that we have not made enough noise about noise.

"Only by talking about the issue now can we hope to address its patently damaging effects."

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