Alicante Set to Implement Noise Controls Imminently

Whilst towns like Torrevieja actively ignore the laws on noise pollution and actively encourage disturbing the residents, the provincial capital, Alicante, is setting about trying to solve the matter after the Courts ruled in favour of residents who had to endure the inconvenience.

Alicante is not the only high profile city where legal battles have been won by the residents, a similar situation has occurred in Madrid where residents close to a sports stadium have objected to the excessive noise from music concerts, which were not included in the planning stage.

The implementation of noise control measures in both the Traditional Centre and the Old Town of Alicante linked to the implementation of two Acoustically Saturated Zones (ZAS) will start in a matter of weeks, according to the deputy mayor, spokesperson for the government team and councillor for the Environment, Manuel Villar, who pointed out that an informative meeting is planned to be held with representatives of the hospitality sector between the end of this week and the beginning of next week to inform them of its development.

“The application will be quick, once the file has been initiated, but we want to hold an informative meeting with the hoteliers beforehand to let them know what the measures to be implemented will consist of,” Villar said, without specifying what these measures might consist of. A priori, it is predicted that the opening hours of the hotel establishments will be modified, in line with the update of the Ordinance on Occupation of Public Roads initially approved last July, and that the police presence on the streets will be reinforced to avoid the concentration of public in the vicinity of the premises in both neighbourhoods.

With this, the governing team would try to comply with the ruling of the Contentious Court number 3 that upholds the appeal for violation of fundamental rights filed by two residents of the Traditional Centre on a private basis and calls on the City Council to declare a ZAS on calle Castaños, and, at the same time, extend these limits also to the streets of the Old Town where there are already previous control measures after its declaration as a Special Acoustic Protection Zone (ZPAE) since 2018.

Meanwhile, the PSOE municipal group has also accused the government team on Tuesday of continuing to “hide” the measurements of several devices installed on public roads and of hiring “a company not authorised by the ministry to manipulate the devices.” This was stated by councillor Raúl Ruiz, through a statement, in which he denounced “the intervention that this morning took place on several broken sound level meters installed on the streets of Alicante.” “The work has been carried out by the company Paquete SL and has been carried out five months after the deputy mayor assured that they were being repaired by municipal personnel,” the public note points out.

According to the PSOE, “it is a company that has never been registered in the Metrological Control Registry of the Ministry of Industry and Tourism, something explicitly required of professionals who manipulate these sound level meters in Order ICT/155/2020, of February 7, which regulates the State metrological control of certain measuring instruments, such as these sound level meters.” “The technical regulations governing these sound level meters also require the annual verification of these meters to guarantee the calibration and reliability of the data received, something that has never been done since they were implemented,” adds the PSOE.