Suburban residents have been venting their frustration over noise levels lately, that despite notices published by Buffalo City Metro promising that noise levels from entertainment events would be controlled in line with the city’s by-laws.
This past weekend’s activities suggest this may not be the case.
The public notices were published in the Daily Dispatch following an outcry from communities close to the event venues.
Baysville resident Belinda Smith, who spearheaded the campaign against noise pollution, said the excessive noise levels of the weekend’s events were no different to all the other events prior to BCM publicising their commitment to control noise and making it compulsory for event organisers to have a sound engineer on site to regulate the sound.
“It was a terrible weekend with all my windows rattling because of all the noise. At work I could hardly function due to the lack of sleep throughout the weekend because on Saturday it was the Metro FM Heatwave, which went on until just after 4am, and then at 8am the sound was being tested for the switching on of the lights .
“The noise from the lights exceeded the safety decibels by far – to 110 decibels, although the noise did stop around 9pm,” she said, explaining that she had tested the sound level using an app she downloaded onto her tablet.
BCM spokesman Samkelo Ngwenya said there was live cricket at the stadium on Sunday night.
The switching on of the lights event and fireworks display that followed were at the far end of Esplanade, and would have been far away from Baysville.
“Both these events ended way before midnight. Both were advertised and met the stipulated criteria. I would like to believe that residents must be mistaking the noise they were hearing with a local “get together” in the area as people host a lot in their houses as well during this time,” Ngwenya said.
“As per by-law, we encourage residents who feel the noises are beyond the stipulated by-law to contact law enforcement authorities and they will happily deal with the owner of such a property or the event host.”
However, Smith alleges that police were not interested when she went to complain at two different police stations.
“At the Cambridge police station they laughed at my face, while at Fleet Street they said they couldn’t do anything about the noise because the events were permitted by the municipality,” she said.
Resident Mike Rivarola said although he lived 1.5km away from Baysville – which bears the brunt of noise from events at Buffalo Park – he was not spared from sleepless nights.
“I think enforcement of the noise by-laws is a joke in bad taste, as is the advertisement, aimed at doing nothing more than stalling. I could hear the noise well after 11pm and in fact well after 2am with all windows closed and I live another 1.5km further away than Baysville,” he said. “What a farce. Police did absolutely nothing, notwithstanding the complaints.”
Smith said their advocate would be issuing the municipality with a final letter yesterday. — mbalit@dispatch.co.za
Noise levels frustrate residents
This past weekend’s activities suggest this may not be the case.
The public notices were published in the Daily Dispatch following an outcry from communities close to the event venues.
Baysville resident Belinda Smith, who spearheaded the campaign against noise pollution, said the excessive noise levels of the weekend’s events were no different to all the other events prior to BCM publicising their commitment to control noise and making it compulsory for event organisers to have a sound engineer on site to regulate the sound.
“It was a terrible weekend with all my windows rattling because of all the noise. At work I could hardly function due to the lack of sleep throughout the weekend because on Saturday it was the Metro FM Heatwave, which went on until just after 4am, and then at 8am the sound was being tested for the switching on of the lights .
“The noise from the lights exceeded the safety decibels by far – to 110 decibels, although the noise did stop around 9pm,” she said, explaining that she had tested the sound level using an app she downloaded onto her tablet.
BCM spokesman Samkelo Ngwenya said there was live cricket at the stadium on Sunday night.
The switching on of the lights event and fireworks display that followed were at the far end of Esplanade, and would have been far away from Baysville.
“Both these events ended way before midnight. Both were advertised and met the stipulated criteria. I would like to believe that residents must be mistaking the noise they were hearing with a local “get together” in the area as people host a lot in their houses as well during this time,” Ngwenya said.
“As per by-law, we encourage residents who feel the noises are beyond the stipulated by-law to contact law enforcement authorities and they will happily deal with the owner of such a property or the event host.”
However, Smith alleges that police were not interested when she went to complain at two different police stations.
“At the Cambridge police station they laughed at my face, while at Fleet Street they said they couldn’t do anything about the noise because the events were permitted by the municipality,” she said.
Resident Mike Rivarola said although he lived 1.5km away from Baysville – which bears the brunt of noise from events at Buffalo Park – he was not spared from sleepless nights.
“I think enforcement of the noise by-laws is a joke in bad taste, as is the advertisement, aimed at doing nothing more than stalling. I could hear the noise well after 11pm and in fact well after 2am with all windows closed and I live another 1.5km further away than Baysville,” he said. “What a farce. Police did absolutely nothing, notwithstanding the complaints.”
Smith said their advocate would be issuing the municipality with a final letter yesterday. — mbalit@dispatch.co.za
Would you like to comment on this article?
Register (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.
Trending Now
Latest Videos