Instead a statutory nuisance has to affect someone's personal comfort in a material way.iiWivenhoe Port Ltd v Colchester Borough Council 1985 [1985] 1 WLUK 708 Guidance on statutory nuisance from the Scottish Government states that:
3.9 There are three significant differences between common law nuisance and statutory nuisance:-
a) for a statutory nuisance to occur there must be a common law nuisance; however not all common law nuisances would amount to a statutory nuisance ( NCB v Thorne 1976).
b) the statutory nuisance regime, unlike common law nuisance does not deal with harm to property; a statutory nuisance must interfere with personal comfort in a manner that affects their wellbeing for example dust affecting cars would not be nuisance but the same dust in a person's eyes or hair would interfere with personal comfort even if there were no adverse health impact (Wivenhoe Port Ltd v Colchester Borough Council 1985).
c) there is no requirement for a person to have any property rights as for a common law private nuisance - a statutory nuisance protects people not property (Hunter v canary Wharf Ltd 1997).