The latest inner west NIMBY noise battle? Not a pub, but a church

An inner west priest has chimed back at noise-averse neighbours in a religious racket over plans to install a set of new bells inside a century-old church.

Concerns over noise impacts and “loss of sleep” have been raised in response to a development application by St Augustine’s Church in Balmain to increase the number of church bells it rings out during religious events including weddings, funerals and Sunday masses.

St Augustine’s Catholic Church in Balmain is seeking to increase the number of bells in its tower.Credit: Wolter Peeters

The 119-year-old church has one bell and is seeking to increase to a set of eight inside the church’s 38-metre tall bell tower.

Plans submitted by the church to Inner West Council show bell-ringing would occur between 8.30am and 9pm for up to 20 minutes at a time, with a maximum of five bell-ringing sessions taking place each day.

According to the plans, the addition of new bells would “preserve the acoustic tradition” of bell-ringing and “serve as a reminder of the importance of communal experiences in an era of increasing digitalisation and detachment”.

But the proposal has triggered a flurry of objections from neighbours living within earshot of the site, concerned about “unacceptable noise” disturbances and impacts on sleeping patterns.

There is one bell in the tower, but the parish would like to increase that to eight.Credit: Wolter Peeters

Some submissions to council stated the noise could also disturb babies trying to sleep in homes, which are located as close as 20 metres away from the site.

Parish priest Father Peter Smith hit back at opponents, arguing some of the complaints had “no science around them”.

“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.

Balmain parish priest Father Peter Smith said noise was a part of living in the area, which has many pubs. Credit: Wolter Peeters

“There’s been a bell rung from the church for more than 100 years and surely residents would have noticed there was a bell tower in the area before they moved in.

“Places like Balmain are noisy places and I think that’s part of the charm of living here.”

Concerns by residents have been echoed by council, which, in early feedback to the church’s plans, raised concerns over its noise modelling and potential “unreasonable noise amenity impacts on the surrounding residential area”.

Praxis Acoustics, which carried out noise modelling on behalf of the church, said council’s feedback was “wholly inappropriate”, claiming it was using noise policies typically applied to industrial businesses which should not apply here.

The acoustic firm also noted the current bell has “rung free into the air without acoustic or duration or time controls for more than 100 years”.

In a statement, an Inner West Council spokesman said it was “aware of the public feedback” and is “undertaking a thorough review of the proposal”.

Father Smith said he was hopeful the plans could be approved.

“The bells were sourced from bells inside ocean buoys operating in the North Sea and it’s been quite a journey to get them here,” he said.

The church bells were funded through donations from The Australian and New Zealand Association of Bellringers, which plans to use them for training.

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