logo
Perth café's small bar bid blocked by noise regulations

Perth café's small bar bid blocked by noise regulations

Perth Now18-05-2025

An inner Perth café owner is up in arms after their local council knocked back a bid to operate as a small bar due to noise issues, despite planning to only open until 9pm three nights a week.
The owners of La Mortazza, just 3km from the CBD in North Perth, were told their plans were 'incompatible with its setting'. The City of Vincent's rules forbid exceeding 49 decibels in the evening, and the plans, rated at a similar level to a beer garden, were at 54dB. Both levels are deemed to be moderate — or about the same level as a household refrigerator, normal speaking or light traffic.
Renowned sustainable cities expert Peter Newman said strict noise regulations were 'unreasonable and uneconomic'.
'It's part of living in a city,' he said, emphasising the City of Vincent was under pressure to increase housing density due to its close proximity to small bars, cafes and urban life — often not available in Perth's outer suburbs.
Professor Newman said that urban living requires working out how to co-exist, not have bans or blanket restrictions.
'It's unreasonable in terms of the future of that area because it's going into decline and people who want to live there are younger, and they want urban activity,' he said.
'Noise is a part of life, and it's welcomed.' Woodville Reserve and La Mortazza cafe is claimed to be 100 metres apart. Credit: Google Maps
La Mortazza director Raffaella D'Alonzo said the process had been long and challenging — but the council's decision, made this week, would be appealed.
'We are very upset,' she said. 'Any business owner wants to grow. We've outgrown the daytime service and just wanted to try.'
'We wanted to have a very small menu, only what was fresh from the season, and beer with some wine or Prosecco from Italy,'
'Nothing crazy, nothing where people get smashed, or drunk, very simple.'
La Mortazza is at the ground floor of a three-storey apartment building on busy Fitzgerald Street — just three blocks from the intersection with Angove Street. The plans were to extend trading hours until 9pm on Thursday to Saturday to become a small bar.
Vincent chief executive David MacLennan said nearby residents had been consulted but suggested the owners had included 'beer garden' in their application — a claim in dispute. Staff member Abano Perruzza and owner Raffaella D'Alonzo pictured at cafe La Mortazza in North Perth. Credit: Ian Munro / The West Australian
'As the business is approved as a small bar, we requested a noise assessment that more accurately reflects what can be reasonably expected when operating as a small bar,' he said. 'In providing this assessment, the second acoustic assessment included a reference to noise levels that were equivalent to a beer garden.'
Some locals supported the extension. Brenton Williams, who lives two doors away, said what the cafe brought to the community outweighed other issues.
'We need to remember what actually brings a community vibrancy – if you're looking for peace and quiet I'm not sure why you're living in a city, let alone North Perth,' he told Tuesday night's council meeting.
'I've experienced noise, and this is not noise.'
West Australian Music chief executive Owen Whittle said that the Environmental Protection Act (1997) requires venues to keep noise emissions low but can be sometimes vary in application by local governments.
'A lot of that will come down to the zoning rules and kind of authorities that local governments have,' he said. Outside of La Mortazza. Credit: Supplied
Mr Whittle said that sometimes venues can face challenges due to noise readings being taken outside of buildings, which may not accurately represent the noise impact inside homes.
'Noise emissions are measured from the closest wall of a residential building to the venue generally,' he said.
'That can often create a lot of difficulties for those venues, because it's not those noise readings aren't necessarily taken from inside, and they're not necessarily going to be a true representation of the kind of noise emissions or their impact on amenity,'
'They can be increased because, of course, the noise from outside of our building can be far higher than what might be in someone's living room or bedroom.'
Australian Hotel Association chief executive Bradley Woods said that small bars have become increasingly popular as they 'offer vibrant spaces that contribute to their local communities'.
'It's important to strike a balance between supporting local business growth and maintaining the amenity of surrounding residential areas,' he said.

Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

Tech giants warn Labor they need more than just sun, wind and batteries
Tech giants warn Labor they need more than just sun, wind and batteries

Sydney Morning Herald

timea day ago

  • Sydney Morning Herald

Tech giants warn Labor they need more than just sun, wind and batteries

Microsoft, Google and Amazon are urging the Albanese government to speed up the delivery of energy-storage projects that can guarantee around-the-clock power for data centres, after the Coalition's decisive election defeat shut the door on nuclear reactors. A boom in the number of data centres – buildings filled with racks of servers that store and transmit data for everyday online tasks – looms as one of the next tests for Australia's shift from coal to renewable energy because they require huge amounts of power to run and keep cool, meaning extra strain on the grid. As artificial intelligence applications become more widely used by the public and organisations, power usage to keep the data centres running continues to increase. Microsoft, Google and Amazon are among a group of industrial power users and clean energy developers stepping up their calls for the federal government's ambitious target of an 82 per cent renewable grid to be accompanied by another target: one aimed at fast-tracking projects with the capacity to store surplus power from the growing number of solar panels and wind turbines to cover the gaps when it's not sunny or windy. In a letter to Energy Minister Chris Bowen, the international group, known as the Long Duration Energy Storage Council, warns that a renewable grid is 'only as strong as its ability to deliver power when and where it's needed'. 'By embedding storage into the heart of the grid, Australia can move from variable renewable supply to 24/7 renewable energy on which communities and industries can rely across days, weeks and seasons,' said the letter, seen by this masthead. Microsoft and other technology companies in the United States are increasingly turning to nuclear power to help secure the 24/7 electricity they need to ensure reliable supply for their new data centres while maintaining their net zero emissions targets. Facebook and Instagram's parent company, Meta, last week signed a 20-year deal to secure nuclear power to help meet surging demand for AI, and a United Nations report out last Thursday said electricity consumption by data centres increased by 12 per cent each year from 2017 to 2023, four times faster than global electricity growth.

Tech giants warn Labor they need more than just sun, wind and batteries
Tech giants warn Labor they need more than just sun, wind and batteries

The Age

timea day ago

  • The Age

Tech giants warn Labor they need more than just sun, wind and batteries

Microsoft, Google and Amazon are urging the Albanese government to speed up the delivery of energy-storage projects that can guarantee around-the-clock power for data centres, after the Coalition's decisive election defeat shut the door on nuclear reactors. A boom in the number of data centres – buildings filled with racks of servers that store and transmit data for everyday online tasks – looms as one of the next tests for Australia's shift from coal to renewable energy because they require huge amounts of power to run and keep cool, meaning extra strain on the grid. As artificial intelligence applications become more widely used by the public and organisations, power usage to keep the data centres running continues to increase. Microsoft, Google and Amazon are among a group of industrial power users and clean energy developers stepping up their calls for the federal government's ambitious target of an 82 per cent renewable grid to be accompanied by another target: one aimed at fast-tracking projects with the capacity to store surplus power from the growing number of solar panels and wind turbines to cover the gaps when it's not sunny or windy. In a letter to Energy Minister Chris Bowen, the international group, known as the Long Duration Energy Storage Council, warns that a renewable grid is 'only as strong as its ability to deliver power when and where it's needed'. 'By embedding storage into the heart of the grid, Australia can move from variable renewable supply to 24/7 renewable energy on which communities and industries can rely across days, weeks and seasons,' said the letter, seen by this masthead. Microsoft and other technology companies in the United States are increasingly turning to nuclear power to help secure the 24/7 electricity they need to ensure reliable supply for their new data centres while maintaining their net zero emissions targets. Facebook and Instagram's parent company, Meta, last week signed a 20-year deal to secure nuclear power to help meet surging demand for AI, and a United Nations report out last Thursday said electricity consumption by data centres increased by 12 per cent each year from 2017 to 2023, four times faster than global electricity growth.

Named and shamed: Swadesh Indian Restaurant in Baldivis hit with $40k fine for filthy kitchen
Named and shamed: Swadesh Indian Restaurant in Baldivis hit with $40k fine for filthy kitchen

7NEWS

time4 days ago

  • 7NEWS

Named and shamed: Swadesh Indian Restaurant in Baldivis hit with $40k fine for filthy kitchen

An Indian restaurant in Baldivis has been slapped with a fine over a filthy kitchen and dodgy hygiene practices. The owners of Swadesh Indian Restaurant, which has four-and-a-half stars on Google, were fined $40,000 and ordered to pay $24,000 in costs after health inspectors found the kitchen was not up to scratch. The restaurant opened in 2018 and attracts a swathe of good reviews from locals who praise the freshness of dishes and delicious flavours. On Facebook, the team promises to provide 'the freshest ingredients, highest possible quality, all beautifully prepared and presented so that a typical dinner becomes a great experience'. But Swadesh's kitchen has not been up to standard since 2022, when City of Rockingham inspectors found food was not stored in a way to prevent contamination, handwashing facilities were not maintained and there was an accumulation of food waste, dirt and grease. When inspectors returned in 2023, they found the kitchen still hadn't been maintained to the expected standard, with handwashing and dirty equipment found to be a problem yet again. The $40,000 fine is the biggest handed down to a food business in 2025. Last year, Lavoro Italiano Restaurant, also in the City of Rockingham, was fined the same amount when inspectors found crawling cockroaches and cigarette butts in the dry storage. Prosecutors described the kitchen as one of the worst they'd seen in WA, saying: 'Cockroaches seen during the day indicates a serious infestation. When they were pointed out, the owner was not surprised'. But a Nandos in Willetton copped the biggest fine of 2024 when it was hit with $160,000 for being filthy, crawling with rats and selling food past its use-by date. This was followed by Belmont-based Aquarium Seafood Chinese Restaurant, which was fined $80,000 for being filthy and riddled with pests.

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into the world of global news and events? Download our app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store