Music festival prosecuted for holding event without consents
Music festival successfully prosecuted for holding
event without proper consents
Chronophonium Limited has been fined $5,000 for holding a music festival in January 2015 without first obtaining resource consent and for ignoring Council directions to turn down excessive noise.
Our Council took Chronophonium to court after the festival's organisers held the event despite not obtaining the appropriate approvals and for ignoring noise abatement orders given after neighbours complained.
Festival organisers Petra and Carl Naus pleaded guilty to the charges and were discharged without conviction and ordered to pay fines of $1,000 and $500 respectively towards the costs of prosecution.
Environment Court Judge Melanie Harland in her judgement dated 24 November wrote: "Clearly it was Chronophonium's responsibility to ensure that it complied with the [TCDC] District Plan and it failed to do so in respect of noise. There is a need for such conduct to be denounced and for a fine to send a deterrent message not only to this company and those associated with it but to others organising festivals such as these. It is entirely appropriate for the Council to decide to take this prosecution to send that particular message."
We welcome events on the Coromandel, but we want to make sure they are held safely and without undue disturbance to neighbours.
"If you are planning an event make sure you engage appropriate professionals to work closely with Council to ensure you have appropriate approvals around the event and make sure your traffic management plans, security and food licences and the like are in place," says Barry Smedts, our Operations Manager for Community Environment.
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