Church free to ring bell again

A church has been told it can once again ring its bell early on Sundays after it was silenced by a neighbour's complaint.

St Christopher's in the Christchurch suburb of Avonhead had rung the bell every Sunday morning for 50 years until it was stopped after a complaint that it exceeded acceptable decibel levels.

The bell would toll 33 times before the 7.45am service - symbolising each year of the life of Jesus.

Yesterday, Christchurch City Council said it would not enforce a bylaw in the city plan. Inspections and enforcement manager Gary Lennan said the council had had a complaint some time ago and told the church the noise levels were in excess of the criteria in the plan.

But it had now decided the Anglican church had "existing use rights" under the Resource Management Act.

Mr Lennan said: "I have concluded it is not in the public interest to take this matter further. It's now up to the church to decide whether they will continue with the previous agreement or to ring the bell on Sunday mornings as they always have."

Archdeacon Mike Hawke of St Christopher's was out of the country and unable to get the good news directly yesterday. But his wife, Patsy, said he would be delighted he was free to ring his bell again: "It's nice that common sense has prevailed."

Mrs Hawke said it was not the first time the bell had created angst - a local mother had complained about six months ago about it waking her children.

"I would have thought that if your children were sleeping through to 7.45am you would be happy."