Hotel noise still upsets residents

Press, 12 January 1981, Page 1

Hotel noise still upsets residents

Some people living 0 round the Ardnui Motor Hotel, in Pages Road, are still not satisfied by efforts to curb noise made by bands playing there. Mr Larry Hobby, who lives directly, opposite the. hotel in. the Returned Ser- ' vicemens Association settlement, said that he would ask the Licensing Control Commission to investigate the-problem. /In October; 4980, Mr 'Hobby sent a petition' to the commission complaining about the level of noise made by the bands. Since then the Christchurch City Council ..has investigated the matter ahd has sent' a report to Mi* Hobby and the com'mission. commission has. now asked Mr Hobby in view ■of the report,• he wants the com- ■ mission to consider wheth7er a nuisdnce exists at the hotel; ■ ■ ' > Mr . Hobby said. jester- ■ day that his. reply would ' be in the affirmative. Of the '-50'••-.or .'.so people, who had'nsigned the ■ petition only. two-> had changed . their/views as /far as he - knew. - Among those .who . had signed.' were people in the’ R.S.A., settlement; and .residents." in /Cuffs; Road and behind' the hotel.' •• < ■ Although /Ballins : Industries had 'supposedly, made efforts to reduce the noise. at;-the 7 hotel, . the' “thump, thump, thump of

the bands could still be heard in the evenings and on some days. On Friday evening, a reporter of “The Press” visited Mr Hobby and in his lounge heard the drums and bass of a band above the noise of Friday evening traffic on Pages Road. Round the corner in Cuffs Road the music was more subdued. One resident there said that he and his wife had hardly noticed it for about three months. A-woman, living close by said that the sound of revving motor-cycles bothered her more. Mr Hobby was wearing ear-plugs when the reporter . arrived at his home unexpectedly and said that although he could not hear the television with them in he watched the picture. This was preferable to hearing the band noise/ ; . - ■. /’• The windows and doors had to. be. left, shut even oh hot .nights to/keep out some of the noise. During -the . Christmas-New. Year period he had' stayed, with his daughter rather than face the extra noise.. •; Mrs Rita Salt, who also ; lives Jin the R.S.A. settlement,; said that she and her. husband, could, hear the ...band.: when / they turned their television- off . to: go to bed; Her- husband, who was- ill, was particularly. ..annoyed by the drumming. 2 j.'. : -

Mr Charlie Blackler, who also lives in the settlement, said that he went out every evening because he could not put up with the noise. Mr Blackler, a ; builder, said that he could not see how it was possible to stop noise coming

from the hotel, which had not been designed for loud bands. Most of the noise carried across to the houses because of the shape of the hotel’s roof. _ Because he went out in the evenings the music had not bothered him for

some time but the behaviour and noisiness of the patrons concerned him. One night some people had sat in a van on the street playing loud tapes until 5 a.m. On another night his car had been broken into and its battery and spare tyre taken.

On another night a newspaper had been pushed under a house door and set alight but little damage had been done. “It is nothing to wake up in the morning to find broken bottles lying about or that someone has urinated against your house or door,” said Mr Blackler.

People had also climbed over fences and walked over gardens taking shortcuts to and from the hotel.

One night last year a group of men had sat on the fence outside the R.S.A. settlement drinking from jugs and half-gallon jars.

“One of the men was so full he stood in the middle of the road and threw a jug through the windscreen of a car," said Mr Blackler. ‘The car went out of control, hit him, and killed him. I think the woman driver was in Burwood Hospital for six weeks after that”

A report by Mr A. P. Millthorpe, the Chief City Health Inspector, says that

the roof of the hotel is now the main outlet of the noise. He said that baffles had been put in the roof and accoustic barriers placed behind the band in the middle of 1980.

It appeared that the noise would need to be lowered six decibels to 10 decibels to reduce it to a reasonable level outside the hotel. However because the roof area was the source of ventilation into the hotel’s lounge area it might be difficult to reduce the noise level further.

Bailing had employed an accoustics engineer to report on the matter. A considerable amount 1 of money had been spent oh noise-control measures and means to reduce the level further were being investigated. While it appeared that a nuisance existed the high level of traffic noise in the area could make proof of this difficult, Mr Millthorpe said.

When the hotel’s management was approached by telephone for comment on the matter “The Press” was referred to Mr R. Wright, property divisional manager of Ballins. Mr Wright declined to disciiss the matter on the telephone. He also declined to see a reporter. “I am not available at the drop of a hat,” he said.