Centennial Parklands hosts over 100 events each year. While the majority of these are charitable events, the events calendar does include a number of single and multiple stage events and festivals.

In late 2007, the Centennial Park and Moore Park Trust (Trust) engaged Environmental Resources Management (ERM) to assist in the development of a Noise Management Plan (NMP).

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Following feedback from the community and the regulator - Department of Environment and Climate Change (DECC) - the draft NMP is being reviewed and updated by the Trust.

Following this period of revision, the draft NMP will be forwarded to DECC for their consideration.

The Trust would like to thank stakeholders and the community for their input to date, and remind interested members of the community that this process is a long-term project that the Trust will continue to consult with the community on..

Background

For background information on this project, the following information is available:

• Download the full draft NMP in PDF format
• Download the community newsletters
• View an online summary of the draft NMP

Further information

Information or questions about the draft Noise Management Plan can be directed to:

The Centennial Park and Moore Park Trust

Ph: (02) 9339 6699

Em: info@centennialparklands.com.au

Draft Noise Management Plan

The draft Noise Management Plan is available to view in PDF format as follows (alternately, a summary of the Plan can be found below):

• Part 1 (PDF, 1.43 MB)
• Part 2 (PDF, 4.26 MB)
• Part 3 (PDF, 4.8 MB)
• Part 4 (PDF, 1.06 MB)
• Part 5 (PDF, 1.33 MB)

Newsletters

ERM developed monthly newsletters throughout the process that were letterbox dropped to around 25,000 households:

• January newsletter (PDF, 277 kb)
• February newsletter (PDF, 87 kb)

Plan summary

The Centennial Park and Moore Park Trust (Trust) is a NSW Government agency established to manage Centennial Parklands on behalf of the people of NSW. Centennial Parklands encompasses the three parks – Centennial Park, Moore Park and Queens Park.

The mission of the Trust is to ensure these 360-hectare Parklands is enjoyed now and in the future. In achieving this, the Trust is required to balance its environmental, social and economic responsibilities.

Currently, the Trust is required to raise approximately 90 per cent of its operating budget, with the remaining funding coming from Government.

The Parklands host over 100 events every year. While the majority of events are charitable events, there are a number of larger-scale events and activities in the Parklands that result in noise and access impacts on neighbours and park visitors. The Trust has undertaken a number of measures over the years to minimise impacts of these events on its neighbours, however in line with best practice in the industry, the Trust is now looking to further manage noise impacts from events that typically involve amplified music. 

How noise is currently regulated

Noise levels for all major events and held in the Parklands are currently regulated by the NSW Government’s Department of Environment and Climate Change (DECC, formerly the EPA).

The DECC regulations set out a number of rules, including times that events can be held, noise level limits and noise monitoring requirements.

Major events such as music festivals and concerts generally feature amplified music. For this reason, major events are the main focus of the Noise Management Plan.

DECC regulations limit the number of days that major events can be held within the Parklands to a total of eight days per calendar year.

The regulations stipulate that major events can be held between 10am and 10.30pm seven days a week. 

Summary of Results

Survey

To get a broad understanding of noise impacts 120 residents within a 2km radius of the Parklands were surveyed by telephone about noise. This radius captured the area from which complaints have been previously received by the Trust within the last 12 months. Figure 1 shows the results to the question: Do you hear noise generated from the Parklands?

The majority of respondents reported not hearing noise, however around 35% reported that they did heard noise generated from the Parklands. Of this 35%, around one-third said that when they did hear noise at times it was too loud. It was noted that the majority of these people lived immediately adjacent to the Parklands.

Figure 1: Telephone survey results of how residents within a 2km radius of the Parklands feel about noise.

Focus Groups and Interviews

A group of residents who lived adjacent to the Parklands were randomly selected and invited to attend several focus groups to discuss noise management. In total 29 residents attended the focus groups which discussed people’s views about the impact of noise on them and the surrounding community. These discussions showed that noise impacts varied considerably from area to area. Some residents reported that they could hear and feel noise in their homes while others heard noise but did not find it intrusive.  Overall each group felt that the benefits of living close to the Parklands currently outweighed the noise they were exposed to during events.

There was a strong view however that the Trust should extend its efforts to minimise noise impacts on those residents who did experience high noise levels. The groups also identified a number of actions regarding event management and communication with the Trust which they felt would help them plan for events which might disrupt their day-to-day lives. These focused on introduction of new communications systems as well as suggested improvements to management of events held in the Parklands.

In-depth Interviews

The study team conducted interviews with nine people who had lodged complaints with the Trust or DECC about noise in the past few years. These interviews identified some of the areas where residents were most affected by noise. This reinforced the need for the Trust to establish new ways to communicate with its neighbours about event scheduling, preparation, noise monitoring and post event management. 

How do neighbours of the Parklands want information about events?

The study canvassed ideas with residents about the most effective ways the Trust could communicate with its neighbours regarding events. Figure 2 shows the results from the study survey asking which of the listed options people would prefer the Trust used to inform them about events in the Parklands. As can be seen peoples preferences were varied. The Trust will therefore need to consider a range of communication options in order to communicate with its neighbours.

Figure 2: Preferred notification methods of local residents surrounding the Parklands. 

What are the Noise Limits for Major Events and how are they Enforced?

Maximum noise limits for major events held in the Parklands are 65 dB(A) or 85 dB(C).

Two monitoring scales – dB(A) and dB(C) – are used for concerts because of the way music is felt and heard. The dB(A) scale best interprets the human ear’s hearing response. The dB(C) scale is used to measure the low bass sounds from music that we don't necessarily hear at great magnitude but are still affected by – mainly through vibration. Figure 3 shows a scale of typical sound sources.

 
Figure 3: Unweighted sound levels and typical sources (pdf)

Throughout the duration of each event, rehearsal or sound test, noise levels are continuously monitored by the use of noise receivers. Monitoring receivers are set up in neighbouring streets, each within one metre of the venues’ closest residential boundaries. Locations are chosen based on analysis of noise impact problems from previous events.

If noise levels exceed the set DECC maximums – even for a few seconds – a warning is issued and the amplification at the venue must be turned down.

Noise Levels at Recent Events

Noise monitoring findings for two recent events are presented in Figure 4 and 5.  The Jack Johnson concert was held on 18th March 2005 at Mission Fields while the Parklife music festival was held on the 29th and 30th September 2007 at Kippax Lake, Moore Park. The charts present the findings from the closest noise monitoring locations – the ‘worst case’ scenario.

The charts show that during both events, noise levels were typically below specified limits at the closest residential locations. However, there were seven and fourteen occasions noise levels marginally breached these limits for Jack Johnson and Parklife respectively. The breaches typically occurred for 1-3 seconds and on each occasion a warning to operators was issued and the amplification system was turned down.

Figure 4: The Jack Johnson concert, held on 18/03/05, had a total of 7 noise exceedances, one of which was during the rehearsal period.

Figure 5: Parklife music festival, held on 29-30/09/07, had a total of 14 noise exceedances, 6 of which was during the rehearsal period.

Acoustic Research & Modelling Results

Some of the key factors that contribute to noise at major events include:

• Wind: wind conditions can have adverse impacts on noise emissions from major events. This was verified by the correlation between major events held under adverse wind conditions and the higher number of recorded complaints.
• Sound testing: the current sound test period does not always allow sufficient time to tune the audio equipment. To ensure that off-site noise levels are being effectively minimised a good correlation between on-site and off-site noise levels should be established.
• Bass noise: Monitoring data demonstrated that background noise levels for areas surrounding the Parklands have been shown to be comparable to noise levels during major events, however low frequency noise (bass) is typically louder. See Figure 3 for examples of typical background noise.

Key Community Recommendations

Suggested strategies to incorporate community feedback and improve relationships include:

• Expanding the Trust’s existing communication strategy to include an improved targeted and effective information flow to immediate neighbours, improving the complaints mechanism, issuing quarterly newsletters, establishing an email register and continuing further research.
• Reviewing and expanding current traffic management and crowd control approaches associated with major events.
• Producing a publicly available summary report within several working days of the event. This could detail information such as compliance and non-compliance with noise limits, times and duration of occasions where there was an exceedance, and what measures were implemented to ensure the exceedances did not reoccur.

Key Technical Recommendations

Suggested management strategies to assist minimising noise levels during major events include:

• Installing an on-site anemometer (wind meter) to pre-empt the noise enhancement due to wind and to better inform monitoring locations.
• The Trust ensures that rehearsals and sound tests do not to exceed five hours for each event.
• Establishing a predictive noise procedure during sound tests to better understand the potential noise levels produced by major events.
• Establishing a pro-active early warning approach is established for noise limits whereby noise warnings will be issued when noise levels are within 3dB of the limit rather than when they are at or above the limit.