Church clock bells must chime less loudly - court

Anna Spiteri celebrated heartily last Friday after a court upheld her request for an injunction to have the noise level of Senglea's church clock reduced. But her rejoicing was over just a day later when the same dreaded sound resonated in her house at 11.15 a.m. and then continued throughout the day.

"For them the judgment means nothing... it is just a game," an angry Ms Spiteri told The Times, arguing that the parish church authorities were in contempt of court.

Citing the World Health Organisation regulations, the judge had ruled that the bells cannot be louder than 60 decibels, about a third less loud than the present levels.

When contacted, the archpriest Joe Grech said that his experts were trying to find ways of reducing the volume to the recommended 60 decibels, but Ms Spiteri insisted that the church is in contempt of court and that despite her efforts she is back to square one.

After a whole day of "trials" on Saturday, the bells seem to have gone on a break of sorts for the time being, not having been rung yesterday, but Ms Spiteri is suspicious of the situation.

"I'm sorry but these people (the church committee) have not proven themselves to be trustworthy. They have done this several times before, reducing it (the sound) and then increasing it again," she said.

Fr Grech stressed, however, that he intended complying with the judgment. The judgment was a fair compromise which turns out to be in everyone's favour, he said, pointing out that the church never wanted to disturb anyone.

He did emphasise, however, that the clock is there to be heard by the whole locality. "We are trying to see how to make it ring within these limits," he said.

But Ms Spiteri said that the parish priest and the representative from the Curia were not even present in court to hear the judgment, adding that for the clock to be heard by the whole locality it will have to go beyond the volume allowed by the court.

"We have been disturbed for eight years and we had to go to court because all our pleas fell on deaf ears. Now that the verdict is very clear, I do expect the archpriest and the Curia to behave in a responsible manner towards the community," Ms Spiteri said.

The aggrieved resident says she spent quite a sum on an expert report, which took the noise readings from her residence, which is very close to the church. The report concluded that the levels were too high and detrimental to the community's health.

The church, she charged, accepted this report in court but is ignoring its conclusions and choosing tradition over the community's health.