Noise From "Private" Festival

tombrophy123

There was an incident recently whereby a local farmer allowed a small festival to take place on his land.
There was approx 200 to 250 people in attendance.
The attendees paid a "donation" to charity in order to get their names on the guest list, there was rave music playing from 5pm Friday evening till 08:15am Saturday morning and again from 5pm Saturday evening till 08:15am Sunday morning.
This all took place directly behind a house that a group of mentally disabled adults are in residence with their carers and 4 other homes 2 of which have very young children.
The other home houses an elderly man in his late 80s.
One of the residents told me that their house was vibrating with the music playing all night long on both nights.
The owner of the land has stated that he wants to plan a bigger festival in a couple of years time, an electric picnic type event.
What can the residents do to try and prevent this ? What rights do they have ?
Before anyone suggests talking to the land owner, that would be a no go with this individual.
Any help or advise would truly be very much appreciated.

Thanks you.

Peregrinus

You want the local authority. Under the Environmental Protection Act, the Environmental Protection Authority enforces noise nuisance laws against premises that are licensed under the Act (which is places like restaurants, food preparation premises, theaters, pubs, that kind of thing) and local authorities against all other premises.

Plus, it may be that the event planned for next year will need planning permission so, again, local authority. You can object to the permission being granted at all and you may be successful. Or you may at least get conditions regarding hours, noise levels, etc inserted into the permission.

sobeitamen

Peregrinus wrote: »

You want the local authority. Under the Environmental Protection Act, the Environmental Protection Authority enforces noise nuisance laws against premises that are licensed under the Act (which is places like restaurants, food preparation premises, theaters, pubs, that kind of thing) and local authorities against all other premises.

Plus, it may be that the event planned for next year will need planning permission so, again, local authority. You can object to the permission being granted at all and you may be successful. Or you may at least get conditions regarding hours, noise levels, etc inserted into the permission.

Perfect and OP get a complaint in about the recent event asap. Have a look at the EPA web site also.( Environmental Protection ) They will involve to get the local authority in action fast then withdraw and they have 24 hour incident reporting phone line.

slimjimmc

If he keeps next year's event below 5,000 attendees can he avoid PP?
http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/eli/2001/si/154/

coylemj

Given the impunity of hundreds of landowners in allowing unauthorised advertising trailers to be located on their lands all over the country which presumably are contrary to the planning laws, what would mark out this situation as being any different and why do people think that the OP's local authority will be bothered to enforce planning laws with that farmer when they don't appear to be able to act in relation to other planning matters such as the positioning of advertising trailers/hoardings on agricultural land?

Presumably they will write to the farmer with a 'cease and desist' letter and then do absolutely nothing.

tombrophy123

I called the local authority about this and 3 days later have received no call back, so yes, the absolutely don't give a F**K.

Having read more into this issue, it seems that because this event was held on private property, the best recourse is via the District Court, which, if another similar event happens again, is the route I would have no problem going down.

If I were at some stage later to go down this route, do ye recommend that I employ the services of a Solicitor or can cases like this be resolved without one as long as I myself bring sufficient evidence of the noise in question ?

As a matter of interest, because this was held on farmers lands, would the EPA have a say in this issue ?

Peregrinus

Don't know, but there is no harm in asking the EPA. At worst, they will refer you back to the Council.

coylemj

tombrophy123 wrote: »

I called the local authority about this and 3 days later have received no call back, so yes, the absolutely don't give a F**K.

Did you get the name of the person you spoke to? Phoning official bodies is often a futile exercise because there's effectively no record of your complaint. The person you spoke to may have scribbled notes on a scratchpad but it will probably go no further than that. I'd at least write them a letter outlining the facts and asking them to take some action.

tombrophy123

Heres a little update: I got a call from an environmental enforcer in the local authority. (They did listen to me !!!).
She asked me for more details on exactly what happened, as in times music went on till etc.

She said that this issue warranted a call out from them to the landowner who organised this rave \ party and they would like to speak to him in person.

What powers though, considering this was held on private property, have the local authority over this situation ? can they tell him not to do it again ? Does he have to abide by their requests etc ?

Again, thanks to all who've take the time to reply to my posts, they have be so helpful for us. Much appreciated.

mahamageehad

Curious if this was in Cork?

Peregrinus

tombrophy123 wrote: »

Heres a little update: I got a call from an environmental enforcer in the local authority. (They did listen to me !!!).
She asked me for more details on exactly what happened, as in times music went on till etc.

She said that this issue warranted a call out from them to the landowner who organised this rave \ party and they would like to speak to him in person.

What powers though, considering this was held on private property, have the local authority over this situation ? can they tell him not to do it again ? Does he have to abide by their requests etc ?

There are a couple of possibilities.

- The Environmental Protection Act provides for noise control notices. The notice requires you to take stated step to limit noise, or face prosecution.

- As already noted, if the event required planning permission, the local authority can impose noise control requirements as conditions of the permission.

- The EPA, the local authority or any person affected by noise can go to the District Court and look for a noise nuisance order, again specifying measures that the offender has to take to limit noise. Failure to comply would be contempt of court. But this wouldn't really work for a one-off festival; you can't go to court until you are actually affected by the noise, and then by the time you got your case heard the festival would be over.

tombrophy123

mahamageehad wrote: »

Curious if this was in Cork?

Hi there, no it was in an adjacent county.

tombrophy123

Peregrinus wrote: »

There are a couple of possibilities.

- The Environmental Protection Act provides for noise control notices. The notice requires you to take stated step to limit noise, or face prosecution.

- As already noted, if the event required planning permission, the local authority can impose noise control requirements as conditions of the permission.

- The EPA, the local authority or any person affected by noise can go to the District Court and look for a noise nuisance order, again specifying measures that the offender has to take to limit noise. Failure to comply would be contempt of court. But this wouldn't really work for a one-off festival; you can't go to court until you are actually affected by the noise, and then by the time you got your case heard the festival would be over.

Thanks for the reply Peregrinus, the event last weekend didnt require a license (200 approx attendees) but if he had plans for other impromptu events like this, would you advise getting video recording etc and then use this evidence in the District Court, and by doing so try and get the court to prevent any further events of this nature.

tombrophy123

Peregrinus wrote: »

There are a couple of possibilities.

- The Environmental Protection Act provides for noise control notices. The notice requires you to take stated step to limit noise, or face prosecution.

- As already noted, if the event required planning permission, the local authority can impose noise control requirements as conditions of the permission.

- The EPA, the local authority or any person affected by noise can go to the District Court and look for a noise nuisance order, again specifying measures that the offender has to take to limit noise. Failure to comply would be contempt of court. But this wouldn't really work for a one-off festival; you can't go to court until you are actually affected by the noise, and then by the time you got your case heard the festival would be over.

Thanks for the reply Peregrinus, the event last weekend didnt require a license (200 approx attendees) but if he had plans for other impromptu events like this, would you advise getting video recording etc and then use this evidence in the District Court, and by doing so try, get the court to prevent any further events of this nature.

Peregrinus

In the context, sound recording is going to be more useful than video recording! But why not both? And get sound levels properly measured; might be worth spending a few bob to get this professionally done. And keep a diary recording times, durations, etc. And co-operate with your neighours, especially the people running the residence for the people with a learning difficulty; a co-ordinated campaign by all of you is likely to acheive more. Don't hesitate to lobby your county councillors; the planning and environmental sections report to them.

And I know you say that it's no use talking to the owner of the land, but talk to the owner of the land so that you can show you exhausted other possibilities before going to court.