Spain cracks down on 'noisy' tourists and clubs with fines of up to £26,000
The Spanish holiday hotspot of Alicante has confirmed its toughest-ever crackdown on noise pollution.
Tourists face huge fines if they fall foul of the anti-nuisance laws, with fines ranging from 600 euros (£526) to 30,000 euros (£26,000).
The city council is revising rules put into place in March 2019 which will be expanded and strengthen, with all areas of public life under the microscope.
The rules are so strict they include a ban on the scraping of furniture on bar and restaurant terraces, talking too loudly in your home and even music on beaches.
Bars and restaurants will have to put special rubber pads on the end of table and chair legs so noise is muffled when they are put out in the morning and brought back in at night.
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Bars will be closely monitored for their noise output (Getty Images)The regulations will require an acoustic study for activities that may cause discomfort, while regulating the reduction of hours in public establishments and leisure venues.
The text includes measures against noisy activities inside buildings due to inadequate air conditioning installations; loading and unloading and works on public roads and building works
The Ordinance against Noise is going through the approval stage and will be endorsed at the end of this month.
Restaurants and bars which are found to have breached the rules will find their closing hours being reduced.
The amount of noise caused by refuse lorries as well as farm animals is also scrutinised in the bill.
In Spain local and regional governments have a great deal of devolved power to pass such laws.
Last year the administration in Barcelona passed legislation banning the smoking on all public beaches.
The ten beaches affected by the new rule cover just over three miles of coastline, with fines for anyone breaching the ban being set at €30, which is about £25.
Barcelona has decided to ban smoking on its beaches (Getty Images/EyeEm)Eloi Badia, Councillor for Ecological Transition, spoke of how well a trial into the ban was ahead of the full abolition.
“Last year no-one was fined," the councillor said
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“Everyone understood the situation perfectly and only the odd absent-minded smoker had to be asked to move on to the promenade."
Barcelona council chiefs say they are extending the ban for health reasons and to appease the majority of beach users and point to scientific evidence showing cigarette butts take around a decade to disappear.
The Spanish government has proposed measures to extend the current prohibition on smoking in public places to include terraces and beaches.
But the ambitious new anti-smoking law being worked on, which is also expected to include a ban on lighting up in private cars, is not expected to be fully drafted until 2023.
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