If you would like to get an understanding of why Auckland Speedway promoter Dave Stewart ran advertisements on ChCh radio last year saying " We're not allowed to make noise in Auckland so we're coming to CHRISTCHURCH to make it ! " , just check out this video. Unlike Aucklanders, people living here have been given no protection at all from the shocking and unhealthy noise levels demonstrated in these videos. Here is another example of noise from last saturday night.
This noise started at 7.00 pm and finished at approx. 11.30 pm .
After that residents on were kept awake by traffic leaving Speedway until 12.30 pm THEN until 2.15 am they listened to the rattling trailers and loud vehicles of Competitors leaving down local roads. The Speedway has a 24 hour Liquor License .
In every way Saturday 16th December was an appalling day - from 8 am when locals listened to speeding boyracer cars arriving to set up for Drift Racing at the Powerbuilt Racetrack - to the enforced noise of Drift Racings' squealing tyres, and cars so loud they could be heard inside homes in the Templeton Township 3km away. This is noise from their Practise day - held on 12th December.
An hour or so of relative quiet and into another block of noise - this time from Speedway and so loud that people living 10 km away could hear it.
Then to top it off a fireworks display in an area full of Horse Training establishments.
After dropping a note in local's letterboxes giving 48 hours notice of a fireworks display "between 9.30 - 10 pm " this Saturday Night, Ruapuna Speedway actually held the display at 11.40 pm .
This meant that local farmers and trainers had to stand out in paddocks for 2 hours waiting for this "display" to start in an attempt to be there to calm horses and other stock .One resident left his night- shift job early to get home and look after horses only to have to stand about for two hours.
Residents have asked Speedway Management NOT to hold Fireworks displays because the mortars used terrify stock . There have been two instances where horses, frightened by the noise , have bolted through fences, incurring large Vet fees . These people are indeed the " neighbours from hell ". This area has been "the home of Harness Racing " ( to quote the masthead of the local newsletter ) for longer than Ruapuna has been here .
It's not just on weekends that locals are force fed this noise. During the week this racetrack continues to force noise onto neighbours. This noise carried on for eight and a half hours on Friday 16th December.
This extremely noisy racetrack complex now operates virtually every day from 9 in the morning until 6 at night thanks to rules set down in the 1999 Christchurch City Plan. Of course when Speedway operates the noise carries on until close to midnight.
Residents have asked Speedway Management NOT to hold Fireworks displays because the mortars used terrify stock . There have been two instances where horses, frightened by the noise , have bolted through fences, incurring large Vet fees . These people are indeed the " neighbours from hell ". This area has been "the home of Harness Racing " ( to quote the masthead of the local newsletter ) for longer than Ruapuna has been here .
It's not just on weekends that locals are force fed this noise. During the week this racetrack continues to force noise onto neighbours. This noise carried on for eight and a half hours on Friday 16th December.
This extremely noisy racetrack complex now operates virtually every day from 9 in the morning until 6 at night thanks to rules set down in the 1999 Christchurch City Plan. Of course when Speedway operates the noise carries on until close to midnight.
Remember when listening to the above videos, that they were filmed one km from the track .Consider also that inside the track, where, judging from a photo in today's Press, many children are seated just metres from this noise, levels reach 110 dbA - hearing loss can be caused by exposure to noise at 85dbA. This noise is THREE TIMES louder than that .
No comments:
Post a Comment