Royal Randwick - Future Music Festival 2013

Can something PLEASE be done about the noise which follows AFTER the event? Last Future Music Festival, the patrons continued hanging around (including in and around my apartment block) yelling, screaming and cheering and for hours! I could not sleep and was feeling quite ill the next day, unable to work or concentrate.

Every year the Future Music event is held with negative impacts on the surrounding residential community. Each successive application seeks a higher level of approved numbers, which I consider should not be granted until the impact on neighbours is better addressed. This Future Music differs from other large scale events at the Racecourse in that it concludes at 10pm which is fixed as it is usually a 'signature' act, with attendees, mostly young, still in the adjoining residential area more than 90 minutes later.

Parking restrictions in the adjoining residential area east of the Racecourse generally only operate Monday to Friday, with a very small area operating on Saturdays until 8pm. Therefore these parking restrictions (resident permits excepted) aren't effective for weekend events at the Racecourse, but Randwick City Council seem unwilling to address this matter, instead promising to do a 'survey' on the day of the 2013 Future Music event, which presumably will only consider on-street parking impacts rather than anti-social behaviour by attendees.

The issue is most usually with those attendees who drive to the event and park in residential streets. While there is the obvious impact is loss of on-street parking, the main impact is post-event when these attendees return to their cars, this being late at night after hours of concert noise exposure and alcohol consumption - low levels of ambient noise late evening (10pm onwards) clash against attendees departure. Even this wouldn't be so bad if it was only for 30 minutes, but attendee exit, due to the numbers involved is slow and unfortunately in some cases the "party" continues in residential streets.

All this late evening impact could be so easily reduced if only attendees who choose to drive were adequately directed to the free parking on-site at the Racecourse on event day (not suggesting this parking be advertised prior to the event), this only needing to be in place between midday and 5pm (event arrival period). Most attendees who drive travel southwards on Alison Road from points north and west (most immediately Anzac Parade and Dacey Avenue). As soon as event attendees see Randwick Racecourse on their right on Alison Road (this being divided with a centre island), attendees immediately turn left from Alison Road into either John Street or Cowper Street and look for parking.

All that is necessary to alert attendees of free parking on the Racecourse is amendment of existing Traffic Control Plans (TCPs) in "ingress mode", which is between midday and 5pm with additional traffic controllers and additional Variable Messaging Signs (VMS)
1) TCP 3, Alison Road / Darley Road - VMS on the centre island of Alison Road (north of Darley Road) with the message directing attendees "Free Event Parking" with a forward arrow.
2) TCP 4, Alison Road / John Street - needs a traffic controller restricting left hand turns from Alison Road to John Street, buses excepted, between midday and 5pm as well as a VMS on the footpath of Alison Road, south of John Street directing attendees "Free Event Parking" with a forward arrow.
3) TCP 5, Alison Road / Cowper Street to have a traffic controller restricting left hand turns from Alison Road to Cowper Street, buses excepted between midday and 5pm as well as a VMS on the footpath of Alison Road, north of Cowper John Street directing attendees "Free Event Parking" with a forward arrow. there might be some marginal impact on through traffic on Cowper Street, but Alison Road is able to cope for displaced traffic movements eastbound, which occur in a non-peak period.
4) TCP 7, Alison Road / Wansey Avenue to have an additional VMS, suggest in the parking lane of Alison Road approximately outside #96 Alison Road directing attendees to "Free Event Parking" - with a right arrow
Resident vehicle access would be via Prince Street and the 'letter to residents' distributed to the east of the Racecourse should be amended to advise of these details.
All of these VMS could be utilised for another purpose when the event is in "egress mode" and the additional cost is immaterial in event of this scale.

I have also noted above that the late finish of the event is the cause of much disruption to the surrounding residential community. In a previous application, for an event in 2009 draft consent conditions from Randwick City Council (then the consent authority) where for the event to conclude at 6pm. The applicant argued (successfully) that their final 'sets' which were 'signature acts' needed the dark to utilise lighting (fireworks) as part of the performance. The current application for 9 March 2012 is later in the summer season and twilight ends at 7.47pm (see attachment). If the event was to finish at 9pm, this would be nearly 75 minutes of dark which should be more than adequate for any event lighting. Even a 9.30pm finish (103 minutes of dark) would be of benefit for the neighbouring residents.

In conclusion please consider:
(a) not increasing attendee numbers until the impacts on the surrounding residential community are reduced
(b) implementation of better traffic control plans, particularly at the intersection of Alison Road with John and Cowper Streets respectively so that attendees who drive utilise the Racecourse on-site parking in preference to residential streets
(c) an earlier finishing time of 9pm.

regards