Husky breeder files an appeal

    A DOG breeder has filed a further appeal against a council noise abatement notice. A district judge ruled in favour of New Forest District Council (NFDC) that night-time howling from Jenny Manley's 24 prize Siberian huskies had caused a "statutory noise nuisance" without defence. Mrs Manley and her husband Albert have now appointed top barrister, Viscount Dilhorne, to lead an appeal on five grounds.
     It says the judge prejudiced a fair trial and gave a "misconceived and biased judgement". It also claims the judge wrongly relied on sound measurements taken by Michael White, a hotel-owner neighbour who had complained about dogs howling in Mrs Manley's garden. Furthermore his evidence was "unreliable, dishonest and biased". Mrs Manley has also appealed against the L38,000 costs awarded against her. She said: "They have refused to give us a break down. If I won the appeal the taxpayer would have had to pay for the council's costs so we should be able to see what they spent. "I'm appalled they haven't given us a breakdown. "When we won a previous High Court case we showed every train ticket, every conference we had." Mrs Manley represented herself to challenge the noise abatement notice at New Forest Magistrates' Court. But a district judge found steps set out in the notice served in May last year were reasonable.
    Mrs Manley had failed to use "best practical means" to reduce the noise; and that they couldn't use that defence because their current breeding activities were not a business or trade. A judge will now hear the case at crown court. "I'm confident in the grounds of appeal we have put forward," Mrs Manley said. Mrs Manley won a lengthy legal battle against a similar noise notice served in June 1997. The High Court upheld her appeals from lower courts and quashed the notice. She has run her kennels in Fawley Road, Hythe, since 1973. NFDC environmental health officer Edward Vandyck said: "Mrs Manley agreed in court that her dogs were causing a statutory noise nuisance. "The judge found that she was not taking proper steps to reduce severe noise disturbance to a neighbour."
Source: thisishampshire.net