No action for One Love music volume

Fifth Ave resident Ian Stevenson has sought answers about last month's One Love Festival at the Domain. Photo/Andrew Warner

Tauranga resident Ian Stevenson is disappointed that no action will be taken on the volume of music that spilled out from the One Love Festival.

Mr Stevenson was so concerned with noise levels reached at his 5th Ave home nearly 1.5km from the festival stage on the Domain that he sought answers from the council which consented to the February 6-7 event.

Kirsty Downey, general manager of the council's chief executive's group, responded in a letter that there had been some non-compliance with noise restrictions contained in the consent.

She said the council monitoring team were of the opinion that these non compliances were less than minor and no action would be undertaken on the breaches.

"However, if the event occurs again next year, council will be working with the event organiser to ensure better measures are in place," she said.

Mr Stevenson said the music was so loud that he could not hear his TV even with the doors shut, and he could feel low-frequency vibrations.

"It was certainly not minor, it was significant."

His house at the western end of 5th Ave was blocks away from the festival's five residential noise monitoring sites between Mission St and McLean St.

Mr Stevenson said noise monitoring should have been carried out at the western ends of Hamilton, Wharf and Selwyn streets because this was the direction the music was projected.

"It is clear from the massive noise generated, especially in the evenings, that the pretty picture of the 'expected' noise levels contour map did not reflect the actual noise levels."

He said the noise monitoring avoided being in a direct line in front of the stage and he was disappointed that the 113 complaints did not show the location of the callers.

The council told the festival organiser to orient the stage so it faced south-west, with the sound system directed down into the audience to minimise noise to the closest "worst case" residential areas on the eastern side of the Domain.

The noise monitoring report identified how the first two early afternoon noise readings taken on Saturday at the two furthest locations beside Monmouth St exceeded the 70 decibel limit by two and three decibels, with 68.5 decibels being the average of February 6's 13 readings. There were no breaches from Sunday's six readings.

However, six of the 13 readings taken on Saturday exceeded the 75 decibel limit and so did two of Sunday's readings.

Mr Stevenson highlighted how 63 of Saturday's 74 noise complaints were received after 8pm, with the final complaint logged at 11.30pm - one and a-half hours after the music ended. A further 39 complaints were received on Sunday, with the earlier finish meaning that most complaints were lodged before 8pm.

He said he waited for half an hour on the phone before his complaint was answered. "It is likely that many gave up due to the delays in calls being answered."

The consent application by BOP Brewery Ltd said the proposed performance hours were considered reasonable and were "not likely to generate any significant disturbance to residents in the area, given the temporary nature of the activity".

BOP Brewery obtained written approvals from neighbouring residents that fell within the 65 decibel noise boundary. It was ordered to put eight shipping containers to help minimise noise on the northern, north-eastern and eastern side of the stage.