No more noise and nuisance contamination in Swakop jurisdiction
By Adolf Kaure.
The Swakopmund Municipal Council has approved the implementation of a Noise and Nuisance Policy and Regulations at the latest monthly ordinary council meeting held at Council Chambers.
According to the Alternate Chairperson of the Swakopmund Municipal Council’s management committee, Wilfried Groenewald, the Municipality’s Health Services and Solid Waste Department regularly receives complaints about uncontrolled noise and nuisance which causes public health concerns due to the lack of applicable regulations.
“Uncontrolled noise and public nuisance can have diverse health effects and serious impact on residents’ wellbeing in relation to their rights to enjoy a state of peace on their rightfully owned properties and public spaces.”
“The Health Services and Solid Waste Department regularly receives these complaints and finds it very crucial to develop and advocate for the draft of the Noise and Nuisance Policy and Regulations as part of control measures by Council to respond to these complaints,” he said.
The approval of the Noise and Nuisance Policy and Regulations is in accordance with the Local Authority Act (Act 23 of 1992), under section 94 (1) which states that “a local authority council may, under consultation with the Minister of Urban and Rural Development, make regulations by notice in the Gazette in relation to “the prevention and abatement of public nuisances, including the restriction, regulation and use of bells, hooters and similar instruments on vehicles”.
Public nuisance refers to and includes any action which is likely to injure the safety, health, peace or convenience of residents in a local authority area, including excessive noise caused by any means whatsoever, the firing of grass, the burning of rubbish and the carrying of any activity which causes a stench, or which otherwise objectionable as defined by the Local Authority Act.
The objectives of the Noise and Nuisance Policy and Regulations, include providing measures to regulate and control the conduct or behaviour which causes or is likely to cause noise or health nuisance to the public or to users of any public place.
The policy will also seek to measure any discomfort, annoyance or inconvenience due to nuisance and that it is avoided, and, where avoidance is impossible or impractical, that it is minimized and managed. Other objectives include penalties for any breach of the regulations.
Copies of the Noise and Nuisance Policy and Regulations will also be made available to all employees of the Swakopmund Municipality as well as political office bearers.
