The Contentious-Administrative Court number 5 of Valencia has ordered the Valencia City Council to initiate the processing of the declaration of the Acoustically Saturated Zone (ZAS) of the Plaza de Honduras and adjacent streets.
The sentence, notified to the parties this Wednesday, fully upholds the appeal filed by the affected neighborhood association and annuls the agreement of the Governing Board of the municipal corporation on March 11 of last year, which denied the start of the procedure.
The magistrate establishes that the Consistory will have to process it now and issue a resolution declaring the area as ZAS “defining the corrective measures that are appropriate.”
The definitive delimitation of the area affected by that statement must distinguish between the core of the ZAS and the so-called zone of respect, which the plaintiffs circumscribe in Calle Serpis, Plaza Actor Enrique Ramal, Avenida Blasco Ibáñez and the streets Ramón Llull and Alfonso Gabino
The sentence states that the City Council must issue the corresponding resolution within three months of the finality of the sentence, against which it is possible to appeal.
The residents of the area alleged that they have suffered for years from “pernicious noise pollution” due to the excessive concentration of pubs, bars, cafeterias and restaurants, with a massive attendance of people and vehicles.
Thus, in support of their claims, they provided the court with a technical report according to which, between July 2021 and March 2022, over three consecutive or alternate weeks within a period of 35 calendar days, and twice a week, the sound levels registered in a measurement station at number 6 of Plaza de Honduras exceeded 20 decibels.
Likewise, in some of those months 65 decibels were exceeded several times, so noise pollution in the area remained well above the limit value of 45 decibels at night.
The expert thus concluded that the legal requirements for the declaration of ZAS were met in accordance with the provisions of Decree 104/2006, of July 14, of the Consell, on planning and management in terms of noise pollution.
The magistrate understands that this report, which was ratified by the expert in court, is not distorted by another provided by the Consistory, since the latter “bases its conclusions on what was recorded in week 48, establishing as a mere hypothesis that the decrease It could have been due to the measures taken by the City Council”.
