San Antonio council are set to introduce more hardline measures to curb the perceived excesses of the town’s famous West End area.
A new 3 pronged attack will see bars having to invest and install new sound proofing comparable to large nightclubs as many are already ‘de facto discotheques’ according to the council.
The big news will see a major reduction to the opening hours with Councillor for the Environment Pablo Valdes saying they will ‘have to be significantly lower’ than the existing 5am closing time as the ongoing noise problems in the town has it’s origins firmly in this area.
finally, a hardening of economic sanctions is expected for bars and individuals who violate noise regulations with small fines being replaced with more immediate action.
These measures are a continuation, added Valdés, of others already adopted by the San Antonio coalition council such as the pedestrianisation of several streets in the West End area and the reduction of the terrace hours.
The government team has been carrying out technical studies and diagnostics for two years and want these new measures “to represent a real change” that goes beyond the traditional declarations of good intentions, it also hopes to have the support of the opposition party so that these interventions endure over time.
The noise measurement stations installed this summer in the West End confirmed that the regulation on noise pollution is systematically violated. The records reached 85.9 decibels, 20 more than allowed. The results of 2017 corroborate the analyses carried out in 2016.
Source: Diario de Ibiza
Comment: Whether you are a fan of the West End or not it seems that San An’s Council are determined for things to change but are targeting local businesses yet again rather than the blatant crime and misdemeanours that occur on a nightly basis in that area. The West End has always been a first port of entry for many youngsters on the island who then come back every year but with little to no control over the last few years it’s disintegrated into an anything goes environment. The coalition government team seem to think that by focusing on closing the West End this would remove the problem but by doing so reduces a historical part of the town. Wouldn’t more positive policing on the streets be a better option?
"MAN IN SAN AN" by Martin Makepeace 
When do this lot get voted out?
If you’re a business owner or even an expat with a San An address, do you get to vote on these things?
I’m assuming so.
Also how does this environmental councillor feel about real environmental issues like the amount of oil left in the bay by all the boats or even the amount of cars in San an with every pr who had a job a few years ago now doing taxis.
The only people gaining from these stupid rules are the influx of pick pockets and drug dealers.
Bar owners who pay all the relevant fees and taxes being fined for open doors ( how the hell else do your customers enter or leave) while there’s balloons & drugs being sold in the exact spots our terraces have been removed from!!!
Idiocracy.
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Where’s the PP (opposition party) in all this? What’s their position? Will this be voted against by them? Are we to expect this to be reversed if they get in at the next election? Or is it just going to be more of the same…
This is the killing of the number one employer of British and Irish workers. This is the killing of the very grass roots of Ibiza tourism with nothing to replace it. And this is the killing of a historic part of town that they’d prefer to see tumbleweeds blow across it than happy tourists having fun and spending their money.
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