Complaints about anti-social behaviour to East Lothian Council rocketed by 46 per cent during the first year of the pandemic.
The local authority recorded 2,182 complaints between April 2020 and the end of March this year.
A report to go before the council’s police, fire and community scrutiny committee reveals between October last year and March 31, more than one in three complaints came from residents in the county’s biggest town of Musselburgh.
The report, which focuses on the 887 complaints made since October, reveals the biggest issue reported was domestic noise, mainly loud music.
And it says that while 279 of the complaints were youth-related, much of it was simply to do with groups of young people “gathering”.
It says: “A marked proportion of the youth calls related to the act of gathering itself (and the inevitable noise created as a result) as opposed to those present engaging in serious acts of anti-social behaviour.”
It adds the council received 134 complaints about drug misuse, with a “substantial percentage” relating to the smell of cannabis permeating people’s homes.
The report goes on to add: “It is suggested that the year-on-year increase in complaints resulted from the restrictions and unprecedented pressures associated with Covid-19.
“With regard to noise complaints in particular, the fact that more people were at home during the reporting period gave rise to the generation of more noise, with a corresponding increase in the number of complaints made.
“It is further suggested that pressures associated with imposed confinement have led to a reduction in tolerance levels; thereby increasing the likelihood of complaints being registered.”
The breakdown of complaints by the county’s six towns saw 35 per cent from Musselburgh, 19 per cent from Tranent, 14 per cent from Dunbar, 13 per cent from Prestonpans, 12 per cent from Haddington and seven per cent from North Berwick.
