MEP Peter Agius & MP Albert Buttigieg EU petition for enforcement of noise pollution rules

‘Today we act on resident’s rights to live in peace. EU and local rules should give rights to limit noise levels and rest times but these are not enforced in Malta. Residents complain to authorities but these do not act. We are now calling on the European Parliament to intervene and ensure EU rules on noise pollution are enforced in Malta’ said MEP Peter Agius and MP Albert Buttigieg announcing the submission of a petition to the European Parliament today.

The petition submitted to the European Parliament Petitions Committee was received by MEP Agius and prepared jointly with MP Albert Buttigieg acting in the name of residents of Sliema and St Julians.

MEP Peter Agius explained how the issue of noise levels coming from road Works, building projects and leisure establishments has been one of the most frequent complaints from constituents during his campaign to be elected MEP on 8 June. ‘Before the election I promised to take concrete action. Now we act on that pledge’ said the MEP.

MP Albert Buttigieg emphasised how residents feel left alone and caught in between private commercial undertakings with leisure establishments, roadworks and building project which create noise at all times of day and night exceeding legal limits and the authorities which seem to be impotent to act, as they get little to no support from above. ‘As a representative of the people in the 10th district it is my duty to see that residents enjoy the right to live in peace. We will keep pushing for this right to be enjoyed effectively and not remain on paper only.’ said Albert Buttigieg.

‘We will soon be calling on all people of good will to join this petition online with a ‘Stop the noise’ campaign to express our support for our right to live in peace in Sliema, St Julians and all across our islands. This will be your opportunity to see that we can live in peace in our homes with the legal protection of limits to noise levels and sufficient quite times of day and night.’ said Agius and Buttigieg.

Petition submitted to the European Parliament Petitions Committee

Title:

Let’s protect Europeans from Noise Pollution, Implement effectively EU rights on the Assessment and Management of Environmental Noise.

Petition submitted on behalf of Sliema/St. Julians residents in Malta. Implementation of EU directive on Noise Pollution. 

Background:

Residents in several localities in Malta and in particular Sliema & St. Julians are suffering from continuous noise pollution from local establishments with loud music and continuous roadworks without limits and enforcement to the European and local rules limiting noise pollution in residential areas.

While EU rules foresee the establishment of ‘noise mapping’ and action plans in Malta with a view to limit and control noise pollution to the benefits of residents, such measures are not effectively implemented in Malta thus leaving residents alone in their fight for a peaceful enjoyment of their residence.

Dear Members of the Petitions Committee,

Europe is first and foremost about citizen's rights. If we fail to give a citizen his or her right then Europe is failing. Residents in busy touristic areas in Malta are being subject to high volumes of noise pollution during the late hours of the night and also during early hours of the day.

EU Directive 2002/49/EC - Assessment and Management of Environmental Noise

This directive gives Maltese residents the right to live in peace in their homes particularly by establishing limits to noise exposure together with an obligation for Member States authorities to monitor noise pollution by establishing noise mapping plans, national action plans and then to effectively implement such measure with a view to guaranteeing effective rights for residents to live in peace and protected from excessive noise levels, especially in certain parts of the day and night.

Current Situation in Maltese Localities

Notwithstanding such EU and national provisions, residents in a number of localities in Malta have been constantly under pressure and duress as the local entertainment establishments in the area keep on playing loud music (amplified music) past midnight and in most instances until the early mornings during the weekend but also during weekdays.

When called upon local authorities do not intervene and when asked to do so, authorities that have been contacted consistently, shrug off responsibility and point to another authority citing that another particular authority as responsible for handling these matters.

Residents also complain of the noise from the ongoing road construction works which have never seen an end in these localities and it is also causing a lot of noise pollution throughout the evenings. Several roads in these areas are under constant construction (causing a lot of noise pollution in the process) and once constructed, after a week or two these same roads have to be opened again for other works due to lack of planning. Apart from causing never-ending traffic, this is also causing a lot of stress and duress from a noise pollution point of view for the respective Sliema & St. Julians residents.

Notwithstanding the provisions of EU Directive 2002/49/EC relating to the assessment and management of environmental noise, the local authorities did not implement such Directive and refuse to act to enforce resident rights to limit noise pollution beyond a certain noise limit or hours of the day/night.

The respective officials in charge of the respective national authorities in Malta are deliberately and constantly failing to deliver any way forward. The residents of Ta’ Sliema & St. Julians remain in the dark, without any justifiable explanation as to the reasons for the insufferable delay in the Maltese Government tackling in a serious manner the state of noise pollution in Malta. Such cases of ineffective implementation calls for a recourse to the European Parliament Petitions Committee to see that the European system of safeguards actually works in their case and the Eu directive implemented effectively

The citizens of Sliema & St. Julians together with their respective Maltese Parliamentary representative have been trying to constantly get in touch with the relevant Maltese national authorities in order to deal with this matter however leading to lack of clarity and/or clear explanation in return, leaving considerable duress on these same residents without providing any form of adequate solution.

Citizen rights arising from EU Directive 2002/49/EC:

The EU Directive provides a basis for developing and completing the existing set of Community measures concerning noise emitted by the major sources, in particular road and infrastructure noise. The Directive also requires Member States to do strategic noise mapping in certain areas of interest applying the principle of prevention whereby data is captured to provide a representation of the noise levels perceived within that area. The Directive also requires Member States to draft Action plans that should address priorities in those areas of interest and should be drawn up by the competent authorities in consultation with the public.

This Directive notably highlights that it shall apply to environmental noise to which humans are exposed in particular in built-up areas. To this end the following action must be implemented progressively by the Member State in question in this case Malta:

(a) the determination of exposure to environmental noise, through noise mapping, by methods of assessment common to the Member States;

(b) ensuring that information on environmental noise and its effects is made available to the public;

(c) adoption of action plans by the Member States, based upon noise-mapping results, with a view to preventing and reducing environmental noise where necessary and particularly where exposure levels can induce harmful effects on human health and to preserving environmental noise quality where it is good.

The Directive also notes that the measures within the plans are at the discretion of the competent authorities but should notably address priorities which may be identified by the exceeding of any relevant limit value or by other criteria chosen by the Member States and apply in particular to the most important areas as established by strategic noise mapping.

It shall also be noted through the Directive that Member States shall ensure that the strategic noise maps have been made and where appropriate adopted and action plans have been drawn up and made available to the public in accordance with the relevant Community legislation in particular Council Directive 90/313/EEC of 7 June 1990 on the freedom of access to information on the environment including by means of available information technologies.

Malta has created a “Draft Noise Action Plan for Malta agglomeration 2019-2024”, however concrete implementation and enforcement through its’ national authorities is lacking on all levels. Moreover, such Action plan is devoid of specific input for localities such as St Julians, Sliema and Valletta where residents have to face commercial establishments daily who are using loud music until late at night and without any enforcement to limit such noise exposure.

When asking for their rights to be enforced, residents are not offered any concrete explanation justifying such delays in implementation and enforcement of the already existing draft noise action plan, nor were they offered any way forward whereby the citizen of the above mentioned localities can put their mind at rest that the national authorities are or will be acting upon the implementation of the draft noise action plan 2019-2024.  

In this context, I submit this petition for discussion, inter alia, to:

1. Consider the monitoring of the effective implementation by the European Commission of EU Directive 2002/49/EC relating to the assessment and management of environmental noise in Malta.
2. Consider whether residents in affected areas should have other remedies when local authorities fail to implement rights arising from EU Directive 2002/49/EC.
3. Ask the Commission to enquire the state of play with regards to the implementation in Malta of the Action Plan pursuant to EU Directive 2002/49/EC relating to the assessment and management of environmental noise.

Received by MEP Peter Agius

Submitted by Albert Buttigieg

Member of Parliament - Malta