Locals have hit back at a century-old church over plans to install a new set of bells, claiming it will be too noisy despite already living next to a loud pub.
St Augustine’s Church in Balmain, in Sydney’s Inner West, has come up against a flurry of complaints from residents who fear the bells will result in a ‘loss of sleep’.
The application includes increasing the number of church bells that ring out during Sunday masses and religious events such as weddings and funerals.
However, Balmain residents have lodged concerns over the noise impact the church’s plans could have on the local area.
The 119-year-old Catholic church has applied to increase the number of bells inside it’s 38-metre tall bell tower from one to a set of eight.
Bell-ringing would take place between 8.30am and 9pm for up to 20 minutes at a time for a maximum of five sessions a day, the Sydney Morning Herald reported.
The plans submitted by the church to Inner West Council claim the new bells would ‘preserve the acoustic tradition’ of bell-ringing.
St Augustine’s also noted in its plans that the new bells will remind local residents to cherish community spirit in ‘an era of increasing digitalisation and detachment’.
But the plans have been met with objections from neighbours who claim the new set of bells could result in ‘unacceptable noise’ disturbances.
In submissions to the council, some residents have claimed sleeping babies, living in homes as close as 20 metres away from the church, could be disturbed by the bells.
Parish priest Father Peter Smith has shut down critics of the proposal and shared his disbelief at some of the complaints.
‘The church is 100 metres from a noisy pub that goes all night, so for people to say the bells will wake babies or will keep people awake at night is a bit of a stretch,’ he said.
He argued the existing bell in the church has rung for more than 100 years and residents who moved into the area would have been aware of the bell tower.
‘Places like Balmain are noisy places and I think that’s part of the charm of living here,’ he added.
However, residents’ concerns have been echoed by the council during the early feedback stage of the application.
Inner West Council has also raised concerns over potential noise disturbances and how this could impact the local area.
Praxis Acoustics, which carried out noise modelling on behalf of the church, slammed the council’s early feedback and claimed it was using noise restrictions that wouldn’t typically apply to the area surrounding the church.
The church bells were funded through donations from The n and New Zealand Association of Bellringers, which plans to use the new bells for training.
Daily Mail has contacted Inner West Council for comment.