In the Puy-de-Dôme, residents consulted on the stop of the bells at night

Europe 1 with AFP 6:44 p.m., November 15, 2021

"Are you in favor of stopping the church bells at night?"

It is to this question that some of the inhabitants of Ceyrat (Puy-de-Dôme) must answer, from Monday, after the protests of residents inconvenienced by the bells.

The inhabitants of Boisséjour, a district of this town of more than 6,000 inhabitants, are invited by the mayor Anne-Marie Picard to participate in a citizen consultation until Friday to decide whether the bells of their church should be stopped between 10 p.m. and 7 a.m.

This is what the director of town hall services, Christophe Serre, specifies.

A resident inconvenienced by the ringing of bells

"Each household - that is to say 300 people - will have the right to a vote and the mayor will comply with the result after the counting planned in the presence of a bailiff to avoid any dispute", indicates Christophe Serre.

Polling stations have been set up at the post office, the town hall and the school canteen.

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The affair had started in the spring with the complaint of a new inhabitant who said he was inconvenienced by the ringing of bells every half hour, night and day. In an interview with the daily

, the man estimated the total number of rings at 600, counting the Angelus at 7 a.m., noon and 7 p.m., and also denounced their sound level.

He had started a petition asking for the bells to be stopped at night, but another petition had collected around 300 signatures for their maintenance.

"Technically, we can cut the bells at night as is the case in the other church in the town, but faced with the differences, the mayor preferred to collect the opinions of the citizens", underlines Christophe Serre, specifying that the frequency the ringing of the bells is fixed by municipal decree.