The Uribitarte Neighborhood Association anitasuna They have attended the Bilbao municipal plenary this Thursday to request the City Council to adopt measures that guarantee them rest. They are tired of the fact that the noise pollution generated by nightlife every Thursday, Friday and Saturday keeps them awake, preventing them from resting. “There are three days a week, minimum, in which we cannot sleep“, has announced one of its spokespersons, Lourdes Llorens.

According to reports, the sound level meter located in Plaza San Vicente, specifically in front of the Church “and near a nightclub”, has reached 70 decibels at 3 in the morning on a Saturday. The same device, at ten in the morning on a Monday, reaches 62. “On a Monday morning there is less noise than during the early hours of any Saturday, without any type of party”, he cites as an example. With the aggravating circumstance, he adds, that the measurement in decibels is not linear. “It does not mean that at night there are eight decibels more; the measures are multiplicative. If there are 70 it is an intensity ten times greater than 60”, he warns.

In those circumstances”it is impossible to sleep”, taking into account that the WHO recommendations establish a threshold of 30 decibels to be able to do it in suitable conditions, guaranteeing the quality of sleep and rest; if a sound exceeds 45 decibels, even for just an instant, it can wake us up. “Someone tell us how you can sleep with a level above 70. Not even if you close the windows or put a bunker”.

Faced with this situation, the Deputy Councilor for Mobility and Sustainability, Álvaro Pérez, has reported that the area is already processing the reactivation of the special acoustic protection zone in these neighborhoods of Bilbao, which was launched in January 2020 but canceled by a court decision. This implied the implementation of a series of corrective measures in relation to decibels, in the section of Uribitarte street between the islet and the crossing, and Arbolantxa and San Vicente streets up to Ibáñez de Bilbao. An area of ​​respect is also established that covers from the stairs and the Uribitarte promenade, Colón de Larreategi, Mazarredo and Barroeta Aldamar.

The catering establishments of groups 2 and 3 of this ambient area, have to remove the terraces and awnings at 11:00 p.m., consumption outside the bars is also prohibited, in addition to live music. Likewise, the passage of garbage trucks was restricted from that time, to avoid further inconvenience to the neighbors.

Now, the City Council wants to resume these measures, “with all the legal guarantees, we do not want to launch an administrative process that then declines”, with the possibility of also establishing them in other areas of Bilbao where the inconvenience of nightlife is also suffered. To this end, a study will be carried out to analyze the noise pollution derived from catering establishments to see if it is necessary to take measures in cases where the noise exceeds the recommended limits. “We want to reconcile the right to rest and economic activity,” Pérez stressed.