Brian Rudman: Residents not to blame in noise row

The thumbscrews go back on the Western Springs Residents Association today as Auckland City Council and the speedway promoters make one last attempt to bully and shame the noise victims into recanting their heresy.

Having persuaded an Environment Court judge the noise from the speedway was so bad they needed instant relief, the residents are now being urged to return to court and say they were exaggerating and would he please lift his earlier injunction.

The pressure to repent comes after a fortnight of insults and threats from speedway fans, worried politicians and a motley crew of television and radio talking heads. It reminds me of the bad old days when the rape victim too often got the blame.

Let's get it clear, it's not the locals who have caused the crisis. It's Auckland City Council as both landlord and regulator of the venue, speedway promoter Dave Stewart, and a geriatric legal system that takes forever to creak into action.

For a decade, Auckland City has failed to police or enforce the noise limits for speedway written into its district plan.

Similarly, Mr Stewart and his predecessors, who helped write the rules after negotiations with neighbours and the council in 1994, have blatantly ignored them.

As for the residents, far from sneaking in with last-minute, spoiler legal action on the eve of this speedway season, they applied for an enforcement order back in May after years of ignored complaints to the council.

They had hoped, notes Judge Craig Thompson, the matter would have been resolved before the resumption of speedway last month. "Regrettably," said the judge, the May application got bogged down in the court system, leading to this month's request for an interim enforcement order.

On Monday night, Mr Stewart said the district plan noise limit of 85 decibels at the boundary was "unreasonable" and that speedway could not operate successfully under those conditions. Why, then, did he sign a contract two years ago for a six-year lease to run the speedway knowing he would be bound by this restriction?

And why, just a few weeks ago, did he sign the annual Western Springs Stadium Noise Management Plan which incorporated this restriction, and declared in the opening paragraph that "it is our policy to comply with all applicable noise requirements and legislation"?

If it's speedway policy to comply, then Mr Stewart should have no beef with the residents. That's all they've been seeking. And that's all Judge Thompson demanded of Mr Stewart in his December 6 order.

If speedway fans and television's Sue Wood are now so upset they want someone to blame, they should lay off the residents and direct their fury at the politicians and promoters who have cynically ignored the rules from the day they agreed to them.

Deputy mayor Bruce Hucker's plan seems to be to persuade the residents to join hands with him and the speedway operator and skip back to Judge Thompson and ask him to set aside his order that speedway obey the district plan rules. No doubt there will be grovelling promises from the offenders to do better in future.

An agreement from Judge Thompson would give the council and the speedway the green light to resume the flouting that has gone since the noise limits were adopted.

Exactly what sort of example that is supposed to set for the rest of us, who face fines and other penalties if we ignore council rules, I'm not sure.

It also ignores the basic problem at the centre of this whole dispute. That there is an ear-splitting level of noise being generated at Western Springs that no longer belongs in a built-up residential suburb.

Forget the blather about 75 years of history. If we got stuck in that rut, the city council would still be burning the city's refuse at Victoria Park, and our drinking water would be coming from Western Springs pumping station.

As for the residents association, what should they do? My usual advice would be to make sure they get any promises the council and promoters might make, in writing. The trouble is that 10 years ago both parties did just that. And it wasn't worth the paper it was written on.