Dear mums netters,
I’d like a little bit of advice.
I bought my property 9 years ago. At the time, there was a large venue quite close to the property which held very occasional live gigs (around 3 or 4 a year). The venue can accommodate several thousand event goers, so is by no means small. However at the time I purchased my property, there was a rumour that this venue was going to be converted to luxury flats.
Anyway, as the years have gone by, that luxury flats idea has clearly been abandoned and this venue has started hosting many more live events much more frequently. This in turn has created much more nuisance noise which local residents have to put up with. Because the nearest station is some way from venue and we in turn live directly opposite said station, we are subjected to quite substantial increases in noise, traffic and anti-social behaviour as a direct result of these evening events. The events generally finish around 22h30 in the evenings, and the main thrust of the inconveniences we are subjected thereafter are:
1 - hundreds upon hundred of people (if not thousands!) milling passed our homes at anti-social hours (i.e.: after 23h00) in order to get to the station, but in the process making all sorts of noise and with some behaving exceptionally badly - from chanting, shouting, shrieking, to urinating in people’s gardens and littering all over the place
2 - dramatically increased traffic down our road and traffic jams with cars constantly tooting each other and at pedestrians who are walking in the street - all after 23h00!
3 - station-specific noise with staff on very loud tannoy speakers directing revellers, but in the process annoying local residents. These tannoy disruptions do not occur otherwise.
4 - severe disruptions for local residents to their local transport - for example we cannot use our local busses or trains at certain times because they are filled to capacity by event revellers.
I spoke with the event organiser of these events and so far all he’s willing to do is put up signs to ask visitors to keep quiet. In my view this is an exceptionally weak response to the problem and will not be affective at all - especially when we’re talking about large crowds of people who may be drunk.
I have also contacted the event licensing department of our local council. I have to say I am extremely disappointed with their response too. The woman I spoke with gave me no indication whatsoever that she was willing to tackle this problem. In fact she gave me the strong impression that the local residents this affects (12 dwellings) must just put up with it because the venue needs to have some way to generate revenue for itself. Unfortunately the venue is publicly owned and the Council is a major Trustee on their board, so there is a severe conflict of interest - it is in the council’s interest to have as many events at that venue as possible in order to generate maximum revenue... but at the same time they are there to protect the interests of local residents. And we certainly are quite entitled to quiet enjoyment of our own homes. Yet the council have seemed very ineffective so far - to the point, it seems, of discouraging any further fight about this.
Mums netters, what is your view? I feel local residents - even though these are only 12 homes that are directly impacted along my street - our rights should come above that of this venue - especially as the gigs only started becoming much more frequent within the last 2-3 years.
What actions would you take (bearing in mind the difficulties with the council) to try to change the situation?