Editorial: The compromise solution to noise pollution in Belfast city centre is to ban buskers and preachers from using amplification

​New laws on preachers and buskers have been introduced by Belfast City Council.

​There are two distinct matters in this development. The first is noise, which is a problem in the centre of Northern Ireland’s capital.

As anyone who has walked around Belfast’s main shopping district in recent years will know, there is perpetual noise pollution. Most of this comes from buskers, who use microphones to amplify the volume so much that it intrudes well into buildings and offices more than 50 metres away. This is intolerable, and it is a major failing of the council that it was not tackled years ago.

The other issue is an apparent intolerance of street preachers, which is not surprising in an authority where nationalists, Alliance, the Greens and other ultra liberal parties have between them a super majority. Such Christian voices are often denounced as extreme.

It is certainly true that some preachers in Belfast have, like musicians, used far too much volume. But in some quarters there seems to be a dislike of outspoken preachers of the gospel. These new bye laws will be a test of the motives behind the new restrictions.

One sensible approach to preaching and busking is to allow musicians to play instruments and sing without amplification, and preachers the same. After all, outstanding orators like the late Rev Ian Paisley in Belfast city centre and the Methodist minister Donald Soper in venues such as Speaker’s Corner in Hyde Park in London were able to project their voices without microphones. The best preachers should be able to do the same, and should practise the skill if not. The same applies to singers and musicians.

If this was a general rule – no amplification – then preachers and buskers could continue in place, and people who don’t mind street performances but do ot want great noise could shop in peace.