A group of residents in the Kingston 10 area are having problems with noise from a church.

The residents say they have met with church members about the problem.

According to the residents, they are not being assisted from the police.

"I cannot understand why the police have failed to solve the problem we are facing almost daily," one resident said.

"It has been years since the church has been making noise, day and night, which disturbs the residents. We have pleaded with the police to help us but our pleas have fallen on deaf ears," another resident said.

Interpretation of Act

One of the residents said what bothered her most was the way in which a policeman interpreted the law governing excessive noise.

"We had a meeting, recently, to seek a solution to the problem we are having with the church. When we said that the loud singing over the microphone was affecting us, day and night, a policeman said that the law did not cover noise in the day.

"I tried to explain to him that, from what I read in the newspapers, it also covers noise in the day, but the policeman is adamant that it does not.

"Can you shed some light on the matter for me?" the resident asked.

The Noise Abatement Act makes it clear that no one should disturb the peace and quiet of residents, day or night. Some people refer to the Act as the 'Night Noise Act', but they are wrong because there is no such law.

You should get a copy of the Act and show it to the policeman and the church members. Church members have no legal right to preach or sing in a loud manner, so that it affects residents in a community.

The Act makes it clear that noise emanating from any premises, and that include churches, should not be audible within a distance of 100 metres from the source. It should not be forgotten that there are penalties for disobeying the law.