The Alicante City Council has started a noise investigation into eight businesses in the Old Town’s Acoustically Saturated Zone (ZAS). Three of these businesses have 15 days to send in paperwork about the sound limiter. If they don’t, their activity will be stopped.
The other five businesses still have time to send in the necessary paperwork. If they don’t, they will also be warned of closure. Municipal technicians are also checking the operating permits, and if they don’t follow the rules, they will stop activities.
The Laderas del Benacantil Residents’ Association has been critical of this report since it says that various nightlife businesses are breaking time limits and that municipal inspections are not happening as often as they should be.
Security says no closures on site
Joaquín Gangoso, the president of the neighbourhood association, also said that the penalties are much lower than what they should be given the number of violations found. He also said that the City Council has not imposed the strongest penalties that, in his opinion, the ordinance allows: “The rules say that a business can be closed on site if it breaks the rules, but that has never happened and we don’t know why.”
Julio Calero, the Councillor for Security, said in response, “Units are sent out every weekend and on different days during the week to check compliance. Since the ZAS was activated, 198 sanctioning proceedings have been opened.”
Calero said that the Benacantil Slopes Association’s accusations were not true. “The rules do not let the Local Police close businesses on-site; instead, they have to follow the legally established administrative procedure.” But the noise law does let police take away outdoor seating locations that are on public highways.
What the Local Police Do
The City Council said last Saturday that the Local Police had written 198 reports of major violations of the regional law on public shows, recreational activities, and public businesses since the ZAS of the Old Town went into effect in November 2025.
The municipal police also said that in 2025 they sent 54 penalty warnings to the Regional Ministry of the Environment. As of now, 144 notices have been sent out in 2026. Of them, 101 are still open and waiting to be sent to the Regional Ministry, while the remainder are still being processed.
Manuel Villar, the Councillor for the Environment, said that the several municipal departments and citizens meet regularly to check that they are following the rules of the Acoustically Protected Zone (ZAS). The last meeting was two weeks ago. Villar said, “Everything is focused on making sure that the control measures set out in the ZAS are followed, both in the work of the Local Police and in the management of sanctioning procedures and the supervision of licences.”
What this applies to
The Acoustically Saturated Zone (ZAS) in Alicante’s Old Town has been in operation since November 2025, when it was published in the Official Gazette of the Valencian Government. It mostly affects Plaza Quijano, Virgen de Belén, and San Agustín. It cuts outdoor seating areas in half, stops new leisure licenses, and moves closing times up to 12:30 a.m. on weekdays and 1:00 a.m. on weekends. In particular, it affects Plaza Quijano and the Calles Virgen de Belén, San Agustín, Castaños, San Ildefonso, Cándida Jimeno Gargallo, and other areas of San Francisco. Brass bands are likewise not allowed to play at private events in this area.
