Amidst the vibrant beats of the outdoor music festivals that are becoming a part of Tauranga’s inner city living, a dissonant note has emerged as some local residents are expressing concern over the aftermath left by festival-goers.

Streets surrounding festivals at Wharepai Domain and Tauranga Domain are reported by residents to have become a battleground of litter, glass shards, faeces, toilet paper and discarded bottles, prompting frustration among those who call the neighbourhood home.

Beyond the visual assault, there is also some concern about decibel levels emanating from some of the festival concerts, and residents are voicing apprehension about drive ways being obstructed and the overall safety of their community.

“I believe in people living and enjoying the inner city but it has to be safe,” says one Wharf Street resident.

“Council want inner city living but they’re not making it safe for us to be there.”

The resident says they have been faced with “enormous amounts of rubbish” following festival events.

“They set up temporary toilets last time, but people defecated in the reserve and left large quantities of toilet paper which were left to just break down on the paving. I complained to the council about that at the time. If they’re going to set up toilets on the street they need to water blast the paving afterwards.”

A resident who has lived in Wharf Street for five years says the problem is that by bringing in concerts to the inner city, it also means large numbers of people “with huge amounts of litter and glass bottles all around our footpaths”.

“One person picked up a bottle and threw it at a glass plate window in Cameron Road and smashed it. When you’re walking past and see this, this is terrible.”

Sound levels

As to decibel levels, a Wharf Street resident says the levels for the L.A.B. concert at Christmas were fine, and there were no negative comments from local residents about the Summer’s Day Live with Dire Straits event held on December 30 at Wharepai Domain.

L.A.B. Photo: Supplied.

“We expect a degree of noise as we bought next to the reserve so we expect that. And L.A.B. was okay.

“One Love is held at the other end of the park where the sporting and rugby is held but the problem with it is that it brings in 20,000 people into this area and the infrastructure is not here to support it.

“We had people climbing over our fences to get through our properties to try and get through into Wharepai for the One Love festival and they’re often drunk or high.”

“At the One Love Festival there are high numbers of people under the influence and we’ve never seen people down our street providing security.

“When One Love’s been on we’ve had people f……..  on the footpath outside of our place.

“With the One Love Festival there simply isn’t the parking to accommodate it. They block our driveways as well.”

One Love.  Photo: Supplied.

Appreciation was expressed for Bay Dreams finishing at the time stated prior to the event.

“The Bay Dreams concert finished at approximately 10.30pm which was the advertised time that it was due to finish.

“With Bay Dreams concert, there was litter on our streets. And the noise of that concert was definitely over and above the safe decibel safety. The walls of my house were vibrating and I had to take paintings off my walls to stop them vibrating. That was simply because the sound waves were too strong.

“I don’t think that noise rating was like that for the whole Bay Dreams concert but some of it definitely was. I had to use earplugs inside. The council might say the decibel rating needs to be such and such but sound moves depending on the geography.”

Bay Dreams

Bay Dreams organiser Toby Burrows is following up on local resident’s feedback about Bay Dreams, which had 9000 festival goers.

“We have a responsibility to look after residents in those properties,” says Toby.

“There are security and waste management teams out there in the surrounding environment to make sure everything is secure and tidy. And we attend to any reports.”

He is going to look into the decibel levels.

“Noise levels are set under a consent, and there is constant measuring during the night. The decibel rating is monitored the whole time, we will be reviewing this with council.”

Tauranga City Council

Tauranga City Council says that as with every event on Council-owned public space, it works closely with event organisers to ensure a safe and successful event.

L.A.B. at Wharepai Domain. Photo: Doug Peters.

“It is a requirement for all concerts at Wharepai and Tauranga Domains to submit an external environment plan for approval which includes roving waste management (bins located along main walking routes to the venue and roving litter collection) along with roving security guards in the streets immediately surrounding the venues,” says a council spokesperson.

“Event organisers engage a professional security company for the event with roving patrols in the surrounding areas.

“The events operate a resident hotline so if there are any issues identified, roving staff can be redeployed to a specific area.”

“This resident hotline information is included in the resident letter that is delivered between 10 -20 working days before each event.”

Council says the resident hotline is run for all hours of the event, with the purpose of minimising the impact on local residents as much as possible by providing a direct line to the organiser to report issues so the event organiser can proactively manage these where possible.

“Residents are encouraged to report any matters requiring attention to the resident hotline detailer in the resident letter they received prior to the summer concerts starting, or call Council.”

The Tauranga City Council call centre is available 24/7 for residents, and during the concert dates Council also has a council events team member working to assist with resolving any issues for residents and the event organisers.

Security for events

Council say Police are involved in the pre-event planning process.

“Police are also in attendance to enforce the alcohol-free zone and provide support around the environment outside of the venues.”

One Love at Tauranga Domain. Photo: One Love Festival/Supplied.

Council say with both the One Love and Bay Dreams events, there were roving security guards around the adjacent streets to provide safety and security and educate people on the alcohol-free zones.

“Due to the size and scale of One Love Festival, in addition to bins in the surrounding streets and roving litter collection, the event also provides street sweeping each night of the event in the immediate vicinity of the venue,” says a council spokesperson.

“Council also enhances our existing services throughout the City Centre, including additional street sweeps in the wider City Central area, additional loose litter collection and clearing of existing bins throughout the weekend."

Monitoring noise levels

Noise levels are set prior to the events, and monitored during the events.

“There is a resource consent in place for events at Wharepai Domain where the primary purpose is amplified noise,” says a council spokesperson.

“The resource consent includes noise limits which are required to be complied with for the duration of events that operate under the consent.”

Council says the noise limit is 82dB(A) Leq at any point of the road boundary of sites along Hamilton Street.

“We work closely with event organisers in the lead up to events, and as part of the resource consent process a Noise Management Plan must be submitted and approved.

“A robust monitoring process is also in place as a part of the resource consent which requires suitably qualified and experienced personnel to monitor noise levels continuously throughout the event from Hamilton Street.

“This is to assess compliance with the noise limits that are applicable at this location.”

One Love at Tauranga Domain. Photo: One Love Festival/Supplied.

Event organisers are required to supply Council with all noise data recorded during the event, along with a full post-event compliance report.

“Council will then review this and investigate if the event complied with the requirements of the resource consent.”

Festivals and events over summer

Toby says they are running 12 events across the country over summer. ‘Summer Days Live with Dire Straits’ attracted 5,000 festival goers at Wharepai Domain on December 30, and ‘Famous Last Words’ on New Year’s Eve at Baypark Arena had around 5,500 people attending.

“Famous Last Words was epic, it sold out. It was raining so it was nice to have the event indoors,” says Toby. “And it was great to have sunny weather for Bay Dreams.”

The Wharf Street resident is supportive of inner city events and festivals.

“We’re not against the concerts being held, but Council also need to be mindful that if they want inner city living, and residents moving into this area, there needs to be better safety and security.”

“Council continually reviews via a debrief process for each event, any learnings are applied to ensure continuous improvement to the experience of events for both concertgoers and our community,” says a council spokesperson.

The debrief and review conducted by Council for each event includes the event organisers, Police and other key stakeholders.

“These evaluations improve the delivery of the event and ensure we continue to do the good things well for future years,” says a council spokesperson.

Parking in the city centre is free on evenings and weekends, and Council says buses were available to and from the venue to help support traffic flow for concertgoers.

“This will be an ongoing process in the city centre as it undergoes an exciting transformation over the coming years which will no doubt attract a wide range of community events and people keen to live in the area in the future,” says a council spokesperson.