Noise complaint sees Kent rescue cockerel returned

A woman said she has returned her rescue cockerel to an animal charity after she was issued an anti-social behaviour notice and threatened with a £1,500 fine following complaints over his early morning crowing.

Laura-Jane Wain, from Upper Halling, Kent, took in Bruce Almighty in 2025 and said she had not received a complaint until July, when the council first warned her to take steps to minimise the noise.

“It’s not a constant sound, it was only every so often, and I loved it,” she said. “I thought it was a gentle crowing.”

Medway Council said it had a “statutory responsibility to investigate complaints that may be considered excessive, regular or constant – and that unreasonably interfere with the wellbeing, comfort or enjoyment of a resident’s property”.

Wain told the Local Democracy Reporting Service: “They [neighbours] never came to us to say, ‘can you do something about it?’.

“They did not even put a letter through saying it was getting on their nerves or whatever. Nothing. Nobody ever commented on it.

“I have had supportive messages from people saying they like hearing the cockerel, that it feels like the country.

“It’s a semi-rural area and the houses are quite far apart with a decent amount of land between them.”

Following the first complaint, she said the council wrote to her with suggestions about possible ways to remedy the situation, including placing Bruce in a darkened space to make him think it was still night-time.