South Parade Pier punk events under threat after music was so loud 'people's houses were vibrating'

The latest event is due to take place on South Parade Pier on July 31 with organisers applying to Portsmouth City Council for a temporary licence allowing alcohol to be sold and music played from midday until 8pm.

However, environmental health officers have taken the unusual step of lodging a formal objection after more than a dozen complaints were made about noise from the July 2 and 3 events.

A council officer visited the pier at the time in response to concerns raised, including from a community warden who sad it was so loud his van parked at Canoe Lake was vibrating.

'The officer drove to the pier and stopped on South Parade outside one of the complainants' properties (Seaview Apartments) to see if the music was audible in this location,' the objection says. 'The bass from the music was resonating around the area and was likely to be causing a significant disturbance to a number of residential properties in the area.'

It adds that the officer visited the pier and spoke to the event's sound engineer and licence applicant Trevor Batty 'and requested that the volume and the bass be reduced significantly'

It says: 'The complaints were brought to Mr Bratty's attention at the earliest opportunity and before any visits were made to the complainants' properties, therefore the events organiser had a chance to reduce the music levels prior to any statutory nuisance being witnessed.

'The officer left the pier and drove to St Helens Parade as she did not feel that the music levels had been reduced significantly enough to prevent further statutory nuisance from occurring.'

The report adds that ground floor windows and radiators in people's homes were vibrating because of the bass.

Recordings of the level of noise were made on the Saturday evening from St Helen's Parade with sound recorded at 72 decibels - about the same level as a hair dryer or dishwasher - through closed windows, a level at which it is classed as a 'statutory nuisance'.

The temporary event notice will be considered by members of a council licensing sub-committee on Thursday (July 21) as a result of the objection.

Pier owner Tommy Ware, who has organised the events, said complaints 'from the same few people' to events or improvements planned at the pier were 'jeopardising' its future.

'I can't see any reason for this objection,' he said. 'There's clearly double standards when the council can put on Victorious and the Bandstand, which are far louder, and there's no objection at all.

'These events are organised to help raise money to maintain and invest in the pier which is Portsmouth's biggest free attraction.

'If we can't put them on because the same handful of people are objecting to everything then it jeopardises that. I don't want to have to start charging people to get on the pier.'

He said he hoped the event would be able to take place as scheduled with councillors giving it the go-ahead.