Williamson Park resource consent application for summer 2017-18 approved

A resource consent application to hold three evening events over this summer 2017-18 at Williamson Park, Whangamata has been approved.

This is a one-off consent for this summer season and is separate to another resource consent application we are currently drafting for events to be held at Williamson Park over a proposed 15-year period. That consent will be lodged later this year and will be fully publicly notified, read more below.

In the consent decision Commissioner Paul Cooney approved the consent for the three events as non-notified as he acknowledged the Park has a high-level use over the peak summer, including other music events.

The Reserve Management Plan also allows for festivals to take place at Williamson Park for six days over the Christmas to New Year holiday period, subject to meeting noise limits and the staging of these three events is consistent with the reserve use.

The three dates that have been approved are:

• New Year's Eve, Sunday 31 December 2017 and into Monday 1 January 2018. Music starts at 7pm and finishes at 12.15am. The event finishes at 12.30am.

• Thursday 4 January 2018 with music starting at 5:30pm and finishing at 10:45pm and the event closing down at 11pm.

• Saturday 6 January 2018 with music starting at 5:30pm and finishing at 10:45pm and the event closing down at 11pm.

Sol3 Mio have been confirmed for the Thursday 4 January 2018 (click here for tickets and further information) while details about performers for the other two dates are still to be announced.

The New Year's event will be fenced, ticketed and alcohol-free, while the other two dates (while also being ticketed and fenced), will allow for the organiser to apply for a liquor licence. The resource consent allows for up to 6000 people at each event.

You can view the decision documents for this Resource Consent application and a full description of how the events are to be managed at www.tcdc.govt.nz/williamsonparkrc.

This summer there will also be Whangamata Summer Festival events run throughout the day, which includes volleyball, sandcastle and ice cream eating competitions, yoga, beach digs, free kids holiday programme activities, a night market and a huge craft market day.

Proposed 15-year resource consent for Williamson Park

In June we asked for public feedback on a separate proposed resource consent application, which would be for a period of 15 years, to protect the existing traditional events held at Williamson Park to ensure that they can continue to run in the future. That draft proposal suggested a total of 20 day events and 10 evening events.

We received 206 submissions on the proposal, with 131 in favour and 68 opposed. The remaining 7 didn’t indicate a preference either way.

"We need to apply for resource consent because the rules relating to festivals and events in our Proposed District Plan have recently been amended," says our Whangamata Area Manager, Garry Towler. "The rules now require that any event where 500 or more people gather for a festival or an event will require resource consent," he says.

We now have independent planners working on the proposed 15-year resource consent, which we expect to lodge by the end of the year. The consent will go out for public notification, which means all interested parties will have a chance to submit to the application.

You can read about the proposed 15-year consent here.

ENDS

© Scoop Media