Noisy Pets; Can Town Halls be responsible?
Every Town Hall in Spain counts, within its municipal ordinances, with very specific rules on what is the maximum noise any person should have to put up with. These rules are pretty much standardized around the country and establish that they will be applicable, within the municipality, to any activity, installation or behaviour that generate noises or vibrations susceptible of producing a nuisance or damage to people or goods situated within its scope of influence.
The decibel (db), which is the universal unit of sound measurement and is measured with a meter that registers sound pressure and displays these readings on a sound level scale, is crucial to establish whether any of the following produce illegal noises: your neighbour upstairs, his dog, someone’s car or motorbike in the vicinity, a pub, a basketball court and generally, any such activity that produces noises.
Spanish Town Halls pretty much follow the recommendations of the World Health Organization (WHO), which establish a maximum of 55 decibels during the day and 45 at night. Any activity that breaches these limitations will be causing a statutory noise nuisance, and it is then when the Town Halls have to act to stop it.
Who can be held responsible for illegal noises?
In the first instance, whoever causes it if the noise is illegal. Last May, 2 pub owners were sentenced to 4 years in prison by the Spanish Supreme Court for committing an acoustic environmental criminal offence. They had systematically disobeyed the Seville Town Hall’s orders to limit the noise to the point of ignoring the suspension of the activity. A psychologist expert witness diagnosis was categorical: the emotional and mental disorders that years of destructive noise levels where so severe that they could take years to cure.
If a Town Hall does not act, they then become responsible for not implementing its own laws; “El Copo” case is probably the most famous given that the Andalusian Supreme Court ordered the Velez Malaga Town Hall, recently, to compensate 18 neighbours with just over 5 million Euros for not taking action against Torre Del Mar pub owners whose businesses caused noises reported to be, in peak season, in excess of 120 decibels when the maximum legal was 30!