A Senglea resident yesterday filed a judicial protest complaining about the "intolerable and unbearable" chimes of the parish church's clock every quarter of an hour.
Anna Spiteri argued that the sound levels of the chimes were illegal and excessive and that the installation of the clock was not covered by a planning permit.
Ms Spiteri filed the protest in the First Hall of the Civil Court against Archpriest Joe Grech, Archbishop Paul Cremona, the chairman of the Malta Environment and Planning Authority, the Environment Minister, and Joanna Drake, as the head of Representation of the European Commission in Malta.
She explained that she had been living in Pope Benedict XV Street in Senglea for over 26 years. In 2000, the Senglea parish church installed a new clock in the belfry which was given to it as a gift. But the chimes of the clock's bells every 15 minutes were unbearable, she claimed.
Ms Spiteri commissioned engineer Albert Sacco to examine the sound intensity of the chimes. He reported that the average sound levels in the Senglea square ought to be between 53 and 60 decibels. This was exceeded by 25 to 30 decibels whenever the clock struck every quarter of an hour.
Such noise levels were causing irreparable damage to her as her residence was situated near the church and she worked from home.
She took up the matter with the parish priest and even with the Curia but to no avail.
In the protest, Ms Spiteri argued that the loud chimes were in breach of the EU directive on noise levels according to which Malta ought to have established noise strategic maps by June last year. This was not done and the European Commission did not take any action.
When she called at the Malta Environment and Planning Authority (Mepa) to carry out research about the clock, she was told that its installation amounted to a development. However, it was not covered by a permit and Mepa had not budged.
For the past seven years, Ms Spiteri noted, her complaints about this illegal action had fallen on deaf ears. Her judicial protest was meant to make those involved to abide by the law and to stop the clock making such unbearable noise.
Lawyer Anna Mallia signed the protest.