EXTREME measures have been taken against some particularly noisy residents in Bridgwater.

Residents in a house in Taunton Road had their belongings seized as Sedgemoor District Council sought to bring some peace and quiet to the area.

At around 4.30pm last Tuesday, the residents of 40 Taunton Road opened their door to 13 police officers, dog handlers and council workers who had a warrant to remove all noisemaking electronic items including stereos, speakers, televisions and computers.

The four occupants had been given a number of warnings about the level of noise coming from the house.

Informal warnings and a Noise Abatement Notice were issued to the house before Sedgemoor Council took drastic action to seize the equipment after the abatement was breached.

The council says it has been trying to resolve the dispute for several months following a series of complaints from neighbours.

Support for the operation was provided by Avon and Somerset Police, who supplied specialist support officers, local police and dog handlers to assist in entering and controlling the property.

Sedgemoor’s Clean Surrounds Team transported the seized equipment in what was one of the district’s biggest hauls of its kind in recent years.

Adrian Gardener, group manager of environmental health at Sedgemoor District Council, said: “We have only had to use this rather draconian power a couple of times in the last five years and this is the first time we have used it this year.

“We use the power very sparingly and it is at the extreme end of what we can do to stop noise abuse in an area, to protect neighbours from a serious noise problem.”

“The next step is to take them to court and obtain an order to dispose of the equipment.”

“We get a lot of noise complaints and we are currently dealing with an another difficult case like the one at Taunton Road.”

Between March 2013 and April this year, the council’s environmental health service received a total of 314 noise complaints and issued five Abatement Notices.

Anyone who wishes to report a noise problem or would like to get advice on the issue should call 0845-4082540.