On 25 September 2024, the Bundestag Committee on Housing, Urban Development, Construction and Local Authorities hosted a public expert discussion on the amendment to TA-Lärm. The question of what coexistence in the cities of the future can and should look like was also discussed.
Our colleague Philipp Schröder-Ringe was invited to represent the interests of club operators and cultural professionals as an expert.
Criticism: TA-Lärm reform falls short
In the expert discussion, all experts agreed that the planned reform of TA-Lärm falls short. While the construction industry lacks the impetus that could lead to more construction projects, club and cultural operators were unable to recognise any improvements at all. There was surprising agreement between experts and politicians that the TA-Lärm has fallen out of date and is no longer suitable for solving (noise) conflicts in cities that are moving closer together with more activities and culture in the open air. It cannot be used to revitalise city centres, existing clubs are – in the truest sense of the word – becoming cramped and it is becoming increasingly difficult for new cultural venues.
Instead of rebalancing the interests of those affected and adapting the regulatory regime to the present, an experimental clause was presented which – if it is implemented at all – is unlikely to help any club.
Philipp Schröder-Ringe presented the following proposals to the committee in order to modernise the TA-Lärm:
Take into account the sound insulation level of new buildings:
New buildings have a higher level of sound insulation than buildings from the 1960s, when the TA-Lärm saw the light of day. The higher level of protection provided by the building should be reflected in a general increase in the immission guide values.
Privileging cultural emissions
Cultural emissions should be assessed differently to commercial and industrial noise. In order to do justice to the social significance of culture, the immissions of the cultural venue itself, but also of its visitors, including incoming and outgoing traffic, should be treated more generously. . Equal treatment with jackhammers and screeching saws does not do justice to current living conditions.
A privileged treatment of cultural sound would be desirable, as proposed in the draft cultural sound ordinance published by Livekomm:
(https://www.clubsarecuiture.de/wp-content/uploads/Kulturschallverordnunq-Entwurf-3.O.pdfl)
Adjust measurement location
Measurements should only be taken 0.5 metres in front of the half-open window of the next room worthy of protection if this room is also used at night (unlike the kitchen or living room, for example).
Relaxing at night
A stoic adherence to the night’s rest at 10 p.m. can no longer be reconciled with people’s usage behaviour. In summer, we should move this backwards. If the next day is free, even more generous than during the week.
The experts’ statements, the minutes of the expert discussion and a video recording of the meeting can be found at https://www.bundestag.de/dokumente/textarchiv/2024/kw39-pa-wohnen-schutz-gegen-laerm-1013930.