The function of the white ball as a music café in Assen does not have to be in danger immediately, even if it has to do with tight noise standards after a complaint. The restriction applies from 11 p.m. to 7 a.m. in the morning. And there are also noise days for live music in the cafe. That is what the mayor and aldermen, after asking from Assen, states about the issue.
Last week the alarm bell sounded about the survival of the white ball, which has been bringing bands for live performances for decades. Café boss Sascha Beeker received, after a complaint from a 2022 from a resident, the Drenthe Environment Agency on her roof, sent by the municipality of Assen. Measurements showed too much nuisance. That is why the white ball is summoned to put a limiter on the music installation, so that it stays within the sound standard of 66 decibels.
According to beekeeper, 66 dB is comparable to the noise of a vacuum cleaner or coffee machine. With a limiter on her sound installation, she no longer sees salvation in having music bands play live in her cafe. “Because the sound of the live performances also runs through the same installation,” she says. “If I have to stay inside, I might as well close,” was her reaction.
But according to B and W, there is no need for closure. “With the current noise days that we have in Assen, and with the measures that the entrepreneur himself is going to take, the functioning of the music café does not have to be endangered,” says the college. The 66 decibel inside, from the music stage, applies to the night hours, between 11 p.m. and 7 a.m. Outside that is a maximum of 40 decibels to the nearest home.
According to B and W, this noise standard is needed ‘to protect a healthy environment for people in the area’. “Because the city center belongs to everyone. The well -being of people must be in balance with other activities such as hospitality. People can suffer from noise and therefore poor sleep, for example. The noise standards for the hospitality industry are intended for the night’s rest of local residents.”
According to Assen, there are nineteen days in this year on which a catering establishment may overwrite the noise standards, the so -called ‘noise days’. Of these, eleven days have been collectively determined, for King’s Day, TT festival and the Blues Nacht. Each catering facility in the city center of Assen also has the option of requesting an exemption from the noise standards for a maximum of eight days.
The Catering Department Assen is afraid that this approach will make even more cafés the victims if the consequences are so great on the basis of one complaint. And certainly if Assen immediately sends it after one complaint about noise nuisance when the Drenthe Environment Agency.
The Commission agrees that the legal noise standard applies to all catering establishments, companies and authorities in the country. “Based on that, we judge whether a complaint is receptive or not.” More complaints are known in Assen from catering or other companies. But according to B and W, no situation is the same in practice. “That differs due to properties of buildings and the distance to homes. Each situation is assessed separately.” ASSEN, however, talks to the Drenthe Environment Agency, about the process of sound complaints. She wants to make work agreements about this.
Café owner Sascha Beekeeper of De Witte Ball could not respond to content. “First I have to take a good look at what the college says exactly. Because that measure really limits us very much, much more than they think.” She also has time to object to the measures.