Jimmy’s disco in calle Antonio Millón, Nerja, has been ordered to close for the second time this year for exceeding permitted noise levels, the problem apparently connected with the cooling system within the facility.
Police arrived at the disco at 05:00 on Sunday morning to evict the almost one thousand people inside and seal the premises.
The legal limit for noise levels in Andalucia, measured in the premises above the offending establishment, is 50 decibels, but the amount recorded on this occasion was 71 decibels. The measurement was carried out by provincial technicians as Nerja Council does not have the necessary specialised equipment for such tasks.
The owners of the disco were fined €12,500 in April for a similar offence. As ‘repeat offenders’, they could now be looking at a fine of up to €300,000, although the Council has yet to make any decision on the matter.
The owners have stated they will address the problem of the cooling system. The Council are apparently quite happy for the club to reopen if the appropriate measures are taken to reduce the noise levels.
Councils are understandably fearful of a situation such as the one in Torre del Mar where the municipal authority was ordered to pay compensation of €2.5 million to eighteen residents after their complaints relating to noise pollution were ignored for thirteen years.
The compensation due to those residents in Torre del Mar now exceeds €5 million as the Council has lodged a number of unsuccessful appeals against the decision, made by the Court in 2008, and have subsequently seen interest and other items added to their bill. If they had paid up immediately, of course, it would have saved the taxpayer several million euros.