A Freedom of Information request sent by the Local Democracy Reporting Service showed out the 1,616 complaints made, only 30 enforcement notices were given out in 2025.
Oxford City Council gave out £150 in fines in 2025, and raised no money at all from fines the previous year.
Of these complaints, 460 were made due to commercial or construction noise.
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A number of construction projects are going ahead in the city – including the Botley Road works near the rail station, the Ellison Institute in Littlemore and the labs on Botley Road.
Councillor David Henwood, who represents Rose Hill & Iffley on the city council, said: “The construction of the Ellison Institute is making the lives of people on Armstrong Road hellish.
“It’s not unusual for the construction companies to ask to work on a Sunday. Residents’ weekends should be protected.”
County councillor David Henwood (Image: Oxford Mail)
He added that the council should be asking applicants how they can mitigate noise impacts at the planning stage.
Another 431 complaints were made due to loud music, 202 were made because of parties, 159 were made because of arguing or shouting, and 120 were made about dogs.
Other reasons for the complaints include busking, DIY or alarms.
There was a slightly higher number of noise complaints in 2024 at 1,718, with 50 enforcement notices being issued.
But the overall trend in the past five years shows that noise complaints have been on the rise, while enforcement notices have declined.
Can I call the police for loud music coming from my neighbour’s property? (Image: Getty)
In 2021 there were only 711 complaints, but there were 211 enforcement notices, as shown by a previous Freedom of Information request sent by this newspaper.
This jumped to 1,207 noise complaints in 2022, with 195 enforcement notices, while in 2023 there were 1,281 noise complaints and just 72 enforcement notices.
Mr Henwood said there needed to be more site visits from the anti-social behaviour team.
He added: “If residents have reported it, we should be on site investigating where that noise is coming from.
“It’s not something you can solve from a keyboard.”
Councillor Susanna Pressel, who represents the city for the Osney and St Thomas areas, said: “I am shocked to hear that noise complaints have gone up, but enforcement action has gone down.
“That is disappointing. I believe the noise department has been short-staffed recently, but we must make sure to remedy that. I’ll be requesting an explanation.
“I’m certain that the poor residents in my ward have been responsible for a large number of noise complaints in the past three years, as work on the new railway bridge in Botley Road grinds on. Although, the new bridge is now in place, there is still a lot of work to do.
“The thudding sound of the pile driver today was awful, and we have just been told that there will yet again be noisy overnight work both this weekend and next weekend.
“I feel desperately sorry for the people who live close to the station. Of course, that is not the only building project in the Botley Road area: there are at least five other major ones, though fortunately they are rarely noisy at night.”
Residents can report noise complaints using the The Noise App, which allows them to record the noise on their phone or tablet and send it directly to the council.
Oxford City Council no longer provides an out-of-hours noise service and does not attend night-time complaints.
Thames Valley Police are responsible for complaints about shouting or arguing in the street, fireworks and vehicle noise, such as car horns or noisy exhausts.
Noise from pelican crossings is the responsibility of the county council, while non-military air traffic noise should be reported to the civic aviation authority.
Some noise complaints, such as emergency service vehicle sirens, children playing, or day to day activities flushing toilets, mowing the lawn or vacuuming at reasonable times of the day, are not actionable by any authority.
