The line graph presents data on the number of noise level complaints received by Environmental Health officials in Newtown from 1980 to 1996, categorised by source. Overall, the rate of complaints about noise disruptions from domestic activities, traffic and factories demonstrated an upward trend. However, the number of complaints about roadworks dropped substantially over the given period.
Taking the rising trends first, the number of complaints about household noise after leveling off for the first four years and then showing a gradual decline afterward, sparked a surge in the figures and doubled by 1996, reaching a peak of over 1200 complaints per year. Similarly, the number of reported concerns about traffic noise decreased slightly during the first 5 to 8 years, before increasing significantly in the subsequent years. Factories were the only source of noise for which the number of complaints showed a steady, albeit fluctuating, rise throughout the entire period.
By contrast, there was a steady and substantial downward trend in the number of roadworks complaints during all the 16 years, irrespective of minor fluctuations. It should also be noted that despite falling markedly during the first seven years, it then leveled off for a couple of years, before continuing a steady decline to less than 100 complaints per year by the end of the period.