It's so refreshing to have local journalism that doesn't automatically back the NIMBY anti-development, anti-fun agenda. There is noise from my local park during events but for an inner city area it's not particularly noticable unless you listen for it. The evangelical church next door is MUCH nosier! Likewise, I have been to Genesis but completely get the point of the redevelopment - that bit of Whitechapel is already a wonderful architectural mess so I can't see this being an aesthetic problem. I'd rather knock down the building and keep a cinema
Thank you Ricky Nathvani! In a debate marred by lack of transparency (mostly on the part of Lambeth council IMHO), open data and code is such a breath of fresh air.
I'm an acoustic consultant and I have friends that do festival monitoring. The main issue are not the main overall levels mentioned in your article but low frequency levels. These can make your windows rattle and get in your head. Local authorities normally have criteria to limit low frequency noise, as these frequencies can travel long distances easily and be heard miles away.
Hi Reena, I also recorded dBC at many of the same locations including close to the main stage, as linked to above. None of my readings crossed the 90 LCeq threshold but do feel free to play around with my data and code in cased I missed anything!
What these measurements didn't deal with is that none of this noise is just experienced in 15 minute bursts like he and the privately paid noise consultants measured, but is 12 hours long, over consecutive days and consecutive weekends during exam time. Plus there's construction noise which was permitted to continue overnight repeatedly.
This was complained about at the time by local residents including families with children, students, doctors including those on shift and studying for medical exams, and people with noise-sensitive mental health disorders.
Nor did they measure noise above ground level which is known to hit the tower blocks next to the park much worse. Ground level measurements are affected by the physical objects nearby, and flats higher up get none of that noise reduction.
There are many people living nearby with all sorts of health and mental health issues that are really badly affected by these multiple days of long, intensive and cumulative levels of noise impact.
It's known that the longer noise continues for the more intrusively it is experienced and the more negative its impacts.
Planning application rejected. I recommend reading the full papers. Interesting that the cinema lost £180k in 2024 which isn’t the £10k-£15k a week claimed. New accounts should be out shortly. Also in previous years it was generating a profit. A cynic could read this as there being no incentive for the owner to make it profitable if he wanted to make a case for the redevelopment…..
Hello. As a resident living five minutes from Brockwell Park, I can tell you that the slightly pedantic insistence on measuring decibels over a 15 minute period during a festival, is nothing compared to living with that level of noise every day for four days on the trot. It may not exceed the set levels, but it starts with the sound check at 10.30 and goes on for twelve hours til 22.30. For four days. It becomes the soundtrack of your life. Then a few days grace then mighty hoopla for two days. Please take a look at protect brockwell park website for a detailed and informative look as to why inner city parks may not be the best place for huge festivals that are bigger than Glastonbury.
Whilst I can totally appreciate how grating it must be having this thudding away in the background all day I don’t think any festivals in London come close to the scale of Glastonbury which, when constructed, uses approximately 900-1,100 acres of farmland, equivalent to over 500 football pitches
The government's London-centrism forever strikes again. Honestly, improving transportation across the UK is a good investment in the long-term. Am I naive in thinking London will be just fine?
Hmm…this doesn’t work very well for me. I’ll try another approach. The linked website doesn’t tell me what the Bakerloo Line Upgrade and Extension IS. And “contact us” just takes me to the Southwark Council website. Maybe the campaign just wants unconsidered support, but I can’t give that and, if I had any influence, would give it little weight. What is the proposal?
It's so refreshing to have local journalism that doesn't automatically back the NIMBY anti-development, anti-fun agenda. There is noise from my local park during events but for an inner city area it's not particularly noticable unless you listen for it. The evangelical church next door is MUCH nosier! Likewise, I have been to Genesis but completely get the point of the redevelopment - that bit of Whitechapel is already a wonderful architectural mess so I can't see this being an aesthetic problem. I'd rather knock down the building and keep a cinema
Thank you Ricky Nathvani! In a debate marred by lack of transparency (mostly on the part of Lambeth council IMHO), open data and code is such a breath of fresh air.
I don’t understand why Lambeth don’t just release the figures? Especially if they’re coming in under the threshold
I'm an acoustic consultant and I have friends that do festival monitoring. The main issue are not the main overall levels mentioned in your article but low frequency levels. These can make your windows rattle and get in your head. Local authorities normally have criteria to limit low frequency noise, as these frequencies can travel long distances easily and be heard miles away.
Hi Reena, I also recorded dBC at many of the same locations including close to the main stage, as linked to above. None of my readings crossed the 90 LCeq threshold but do feel free to play around with my data and code in cased I missed anything!
We acousticians can be quite pedantic, but at least you used a sound level meter and not an app, so well done for that.
What these measurements didn't deal with is that none of this noise is just experienced in 15 minute bursts like he and the privately paid noise consultants measured, but is 12 hours long, over consecutive days and consecutive weekends during exam time. Plus there's construction noise which was permitted to continue overnight repeatedly.
This was complained about at the time by local residents including families with children, students, doctors including those on shift and studying for medical exams, and people with noise-sensitive mental health disorders.
Nor did they measure noise above ground level which is known to hit the tower blocks next to the park much worse. Ground level measurements are affected by the physical objects nearby, and flats higher up get none of that noise reduction.
There are many people living nearby with all sorts of health and mental health issues that are really badly affected by these multiple days of long, intensive and cumulative levels of noise impact.
It's known that the longer noise continues for the more intrusively it is experienced and the more negative its impacts.
None of that has been considered or assessed.
Planning application rejected. I recommend reading the full papers. Interesting that the cinema lost £180k in 2024 which isn’t the £10k-£15k a week claimed. New accounts should be out shortly. Also in previous years it was generating a profit. A cynic could read this as there being no incentive for the owner to make it profitable if he wanted to make a case for the redevelopment…..
Northern Ireland 'property developer'. Are they named?
Hello. As a resident living five minutes from Brockwell Park, I can tell you that the slightly pedantic insistence on measuring decibels over a 15 minute period during a festival, is nothing compared to living with that level of noise every day for four days on the trot. It may not exceed the set levels, but it starts with the sound check at 10.30 and goes on for twelve hours til 22.30. For four days. It becomes the soundtrack of your life. Then a few days grace then mighty hoopla for two days. Please take a look at protect brockwell park website for a detailed and informative look as to why inner city parks may not be the best place for huge festivals that are bigger than Glastonbury.
Whilst I can totally appreciate how grating it must be having this thudding away in the background all day I don’t think any festivals in London come close to the scale of Glastonbury which, when constructed, uses approximately 900-1,100 acres of farmland, equivalent to over 500 football pitches
The government's London-centrism forever strikes again. Honestly, improving transportation across the UK is a good investment in the long-term. Am I naive in thinking London will be just fine?
Hmm…this doesn’t work very well for me. I’ll try another approach. The linked website doesn’t tell me what the Bakerloo Line Upgrade and Extension IS. And “contact us” just takes me to the Southwark Council website. Maybe the campaign just wants unconsidered support, but I can’t give that and, if I had any influence, would give it little weight. What is the proposal?
I clicked through to the “Bakerloo Line Upfrade and Extension” which I’m likely to
I clicked through to the Bakerloo Line Upgrade and Extension (which I’m likely link and found lots about how good it