Uncertainty hangs over speedway racing at the Western Springs Stadium on Saturday night after the Environment Court issued a decision yesterday ordering the speedway promoter to comply with noise limits.
Springs Promotion Ltd will decide today whether racing will go ahead but general manager Dave Stewart said last night it
was not a quick fix.
The company will have to consult its lawyers and the Auckland City Council over the compliance issue.
"We are only the promotion company. We cannot make that decision without talking to everyone concerned."
He said noise limits had never been complied with in the history of the Western Springs Stadium.
In the current situation Mr Stewart said it would be difficult to work out options for the Springs speedway.
In his decision Environment Court Judge Craig Thompson said noise limit compliance, sought by the Springs Stadium Residents Association, had not been achieved more than eight years after a settlement between the council, residents and the then promoter.
Compliance was at the core of the residents' frustration, the judge said.
"I have no doubt that if the cessation of speedway racing was announced today, there would be dancing in Old Mill Road tonight," Judge Thompson said.
"But that is not what the association seeks. Presumably, it is sufficiently well advised to know that a lot more process would be required to achieve that."
In its application the association was seeking that Springs Promotion take all necessary steps to comply with noise limits "and hereafter comply with the noise limits", that monitoring should be carried out and that in the event of further breaches the court should require speedway racing at Western Springs to cease.
Judge Thompson said the court had no practical facilities for monitoring noise compliance and it was not appropriate for the court to make orders such as stopping the racing.
However, he found that the promoter should take all necessary steps to comply with noise limits.
