Anti-noise legislation gets lawmakers’ attention

The drone of night-time kite-flying, the rattle of off-road motorcycles and other daily assaults on the eardrums of Barbadians have got the attention of lawmakers who pledged stronger anti-noise pollution after decades of silence.

The assurance was given on Wednesday by Minister of Environment and National Beautification Adrian Forde after Opposition Leader Bishop Joseph Atherley raised the issue as the environment ministry’s plans were tabled during the Appropriations Bill for the new fiscal year.

Bishop Atherley complained that kite-flying at night continued to create a major headache especially for elderly people who were losing rest as a result of the noise from the popular pastime among the youth.

Describing the noise from the kites as a “humbug”, he said several complaints have been made over time and the issue has been discussed “for a long time” but there seemed to be no plan by Government to address the matter.

Atherley complained: “You have an issue now with people flying these kites, they leave them ‘staked out’ all night and they are [like] raging bulls. I am conducting church services and you hear them above the church. I have been at the cemetery, particularly the Westbury Cemetery, doing burials and it is irreverent, totally a nuisance and it is a simple matter we should address.”

He described “the heavy sounding noise” of some motorcycle mufflers as “a nuisance”.

In response, Minister of Environment Adrian Forde pointed to the Health Services Act that classifies noise as a nuisance, telling the opposition lawmaker there was a process involving the police for it to be addressed, but agreed there was an “issue” when it came to catching the perpetrators.

Picking up on the law’s gaps, Deputy Director of the Environmental Protection Department Lisa Senhouse said work had started to put new laws in place to address the enforcement issue.

Senhouse said: “We are also right now in the process of developing drafting instructions for noise legislation. The health services nuisance regulations the minister mentioned, we have a few challenges with enforcing that legislation, and we are hoping that with the drafting and new noise legislation, which specifically speaks to noise and also identify standards which must be met, that we will be able to strengthen the legal framework for policing noise in Barbados.”

She explained that the current noise policy “speaks to a legal framework for the management of noise from many different sources including industrial noise and noise from a business which may potentially affect its neighbours”. (MM)