The battle against noise that never stops in Benidorm

According to figures from the Local Police, 30% of Benidorm’s hospitality facilities breach noise ordinances. Volume limits are more stringent in the tourism municipality, where the level of 103 decibels cannot be exceeded, as opposed to the 104 decibels set by Valencian Government laws. Nonetheless, the city’s citizens confront a number of drawbacks that come with living in an area with a lot of entertainment.

The Public Establishments Control and Inspection Unit, a division of the Local Police, is in charge of screening music equipment in entertainment venues. So far this year, 100 establishments have been inspected ex officio to ensure legality and conformity with existing legislation.

A thousand companies

According to the unit, there are already 1,000 enterprises involved in music, a large number that local police must supervise. They claim that they can immediately determine the noise they make using the program that connects them to the music equipment.

This area contains at least 20 nightclubs and 100 pubs, or similarly titled lounges, nightclubs, or concert cafés—a considerable quantity for the entire unit. In addition, scores of hotels organise live nighttime performances or daily musical aquagyms, sometimes at inconvenient hours.

According to the police, the number of complaints has remained constant over time, but monitoring has gotten more thorough. Between May and August, the unit raided 61 premises and sealed 27 musical equipment. The unit’s leader, Manuel Risueño, describes breaches as a “wave,” with peak season receiving the most complaints.

The point is that, as the police officer points out, the busy season in Benidorm lasts from May to November, when the British still spend their summers and crowd the streets on the English side, which is where the majority of the breaches occur.

While many firms adhere to timetables and volumes, the Unit claims that another 30% commit an offence, usually of an administrative nature, such as failing to close their doors or installing an extra loudspeaker. Risueño claims that no other town in Alicante maintains the same level of noise control as Benidorm. Furthermore, the group must grasp the educational formula for balancing nightlife and relaxation before taking action.

Tourist apartments

The industry under the aegis of Benidorm’s Association of Tourist Apartment Companies (APTUR) learnt its lesson years ago. The organization’s managed apartments subscribed to the “weRespect” initiative four years ago, which includes a personalised noise meter set on the tenant’s door and has had very great results.

The meter does not measure decibels but rather sound pressure. That example, if a shout or a boisterous conversation lasts more than five minutes, an alert is triggered, and the company initiates a mediation process with the distressed visitor to resolve the matter. “All of this has contributed to a significant reduction in disturbances; it’s a matter of education and time,” says Silvia Blasco, president of APTUR, who is aware that these types of apartments are criminalised.

On the outskirts

In general, the neighbourhood associations of Poniente, Rincón de Loix, and Europa-Loix, the latter two in the noisy English region, grade the situation well, with the exception of August, which they have already identified as extremely noisy.

However, the echo of social media these days conveys news from hotels with their decibels at their peak level in the morning or at the untimely hour of the siesta, and this style of phoning their consumers is popular, which is very bothersome.

So not everyone agrees on perfection. The Benidorm Más Neighbourhood Platform is opposed to music festivals such as Low, which take place at the Guillermo Amor Sports City and cause great annoyance to the local residents. Tomás Marín, the social media administrator of the aforementioned platform, believes that holding festivals in the area is unsuitable for both the neighbourhood and the Foietes Senior Citizens’ Home. “We’ve been putting up with it for 15 years and asking politicians for help; it’s an injustice. You can tolerate excessive volume until midnight, but not until 4 or 5 a.m. We are not against festivals, but they should be hosted on the periphery, as in other cities.”