A group of Las Palmas residents who have had to put up with excessive noise from two bars for years are celebrating a legal win which they expect to serve as a warning to other local councils.
Thirteen families living in the busy Sargento Llagas district close to the city’s Las Canteras seafront brought proceeding against Las Palmas council for failing to enforce noise regulations and keep levels given off by late-night customers sitting at tables on the narrow street outside the two premises.
The residents have tried everything to persuade the council to act and a local judge has now found in their favour, awarding a total of 39,000 euros in compensation for the nuisance caused.
Locals claimed that noise levels frequently exceeded the maximum 55 decibels permitted but council inspectors did not detect this as they visited the two premises (a pizza café and a cocktail bar) at quiet times, not late at night when the problem becomes most serious and prevents those living in adjoining buildings from sleeping.
In a stinging rebuke, the judge said the council had failed to safeguard the basic rights of those living next to the premises and its actions had fallen well short of what was required to enforce its own noise byelaws.
While not the first of its kind against Las Palmas Council, the ruling is expected to force a major rethink of its current approach to enforcing breaches of noise levels given that the argument used by the Sargento Llagas residents was that the failure to take appropriate steps breached their basic rights.
The success will encourage those who have launched proceedings in, for example, the Santa Catalina district of the city, which bears the brunt of all-day and all-night noise during Carnival and other major celebrations and wants the partying to be relocated to non-residential areas.
Photo: https://www.facebook.com/camaleoncubatasbar/
