Bay of Plenty Times
  • Bay of Plenty Times home
  • Latest news
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
  • Sport
  • Video
  • Death notices
  • Classifieds

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • On The Up
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Residential property listings
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology
  • Sport

Locations

  • Coromandel & Hauraki
  • Katikati
  • Tauranga
  • Mount Maunganui
  • Pāpāmoa
  • Te Puke
  • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua

Media

  • Video
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-Editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

Weather

  • Thames
  • Tauranga
  • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Bay of Plenty Times

Mount Maunganui New Year's Eve celebration could be canned

John Cousins
By John Cousins
Senior reporter, Bay of Plenty Times·Bay of Plenty Times·
2 Oct, 2016 10:50 PM4 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

Thousands of revellers seeing in the New Year on Mount Main Beach last year. Photo/file .

Thousands of revellers seeing in the New Year on Mount Main Beach last year. Photo/file .

The New Year's Eve tradition of council-organised events on Mount Main Beach could be axed this year following pressure from police.

Tauranga City Council will tomorrow decide on a recommendation to drop the event and stick to only having a youth event at Baypark's ASB Arena.

The report to the 3pm "extraordinary" council meeting followed a confidential briefing to councillors last week on issues associated with last year's event, with a further briefing expected to be held this afternoon.

Council's city transformation manager Jaine Lovell-Gadd has recommended the option of having no organised event at Main Beach, a fireworks display near the CBD and a youth event at ASB Arena. It would include "enhanced city operations and proactive safety controls".

"The New Year's Eve event is the highest risk event in Tauranga," she said.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Ms Lovell-Gadd's report said New Year's Eve had a long history of being a challenging night, with Mount Maunganui a well known destination for young people.

"The council and police have been managing this night, with associated risks and costs, for well over a decade and are still to find a sustainable solution that delivers on the city's desired outcomes."

The alternative option to be considered tomorrow was to continue holding an event on Mount Main Beach, along with CBD fireworks and a youth event at ASB Arena. This would cost the council $784,000 - $505,0000 more than what the council budgeted for the 2016-17 year.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Dropping the Main Beach event would save $252,000 but spending would still exceed budget by $253,000. The extra money would be generated by finding savings in other rates-funded spending.

The report outlined how there were more younger people at the last New Year's Eve event than previous years, with police reporting an increase in public disorder and aggression attributed to higher levels of intoxication.

"Police dealt with serious assaults regularly over the night. There were reports of groups of men taking advantage of vulnerable females. They also reported that vulnerable men were knocked to the ground.

"Youth groups were also present at the event and 43 arrests were reported. It is not necessarily the amount of offending but the serious nature of offending that concerns police. It is anticipated that similar issues with similar groups may arise again.

"Police understand that other planned disorder and retribution could be a risk for any 2016-17 organised event," the report said.

Tomorrow's decision was also based on the council hiring consultant Calum Nicholson of FOAMHAND Ltd, global specialists in city operations and movement management for major events and venues.

Project planning reached the point where the council ordered an independent review of the event and its options.

"This included the option of no organised event but to enhance operations at the Mount Main Beach."

Sport New Zealand's principal events advisor John Dawson was engaged to do the work.
The events specialists said that having no organised event had the potential to increase the risk of public disorder, at least in the short term.

"However they appreciate that the long-term plan to change perceptions and actions will likely happen sooner if the no organised event option was enacted," the report said.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

"The legal opinion is that the council is seen as having less risk of liability if there is no organised event at Mount Maunganui Main Beach than if there was [an event]," the report said.

The opinion said the council had a duty of care to support agencies that were responsible for preventing public disorder.

Ms Lovell-Gadd said that unless costs were able to be contained or reduced, the investment required by the council for the event became difficult to support.

"The current perception of New Year's Eve at Mount Maunganui is not appealing to prospective sponsors. There would need to be a significant shift in the event's reputation to achieve this."

Delivering the event also swallowed 2800 hours of time by council project management staff - the equivalent of 1.5 full-time jobs.

Resource consent would also be required to stage the fireworks display on Mt Drury. Initial consultation with key stakeholders has raised concerns and there was a "high chance" that the fireworks would not take place in Mount Maunganui.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Council staff had investigated contingency options for the fireworks display, regardless of which option was chosen, but it was "not looking positive".

The proposal to "enhance city operations" consisted of proactive safety controls and supporting police with emergency response services.

Save

    Share this article

Latest from Bay of Plenty Times

Bay of Plenty Times

'Staff taking the hit': Workload worries as council slashes jobs

17 Jun 06:00 PM
Bay of Plenty Times

'I wept': White Island tragedy doctor’s anguish at child’s death

17 Jun 05:00 PM
Bay of Plenty Times

'Hot-box' murder: Accused says rival gang bigger issue than patched member's theft

17 Jun 07:00 AM

Jono and Ben brew up a tea-fuelled adventure in Sri Lanka

sponsored
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Bay of Plenty Times

'Staff taking the hit': Workload worries as council slashes jobs

'Staff taking the hit': Workload worries as council slashes jobs

17 Jun 06:00 PM

Tauranga City Council is cutting 98 jobs to save $12.3 million and reduce rates.

'I wept': White Island tragedy doctor’s anguish at child’s death

'I wept': White Island tragedy doctor’s anguish at child’s death

17 Jun 05:00 PM
'Hot-box' murder: Accused says rival gang bigger issue than patched member's theft

'Hot-box' murder: Accused says rival gang bigger issue than patched member's theft

17 Jun 07:00 AM
On The Up: Pie-fecta - Pie King's trainees claim top prizes in apprentice showdown

On The Up: Pie-fecta - Pie King's trainees claim top prizes in apprentice showdown

17 Jun 03:00 AM
Help for those helping hardest-hit
sponsored

Help for those helping hardest-hit

NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • Bay of Plenty Times e-edition
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Subscribe to the Bay of Plenty Times
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • NZME Events
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP