The Royal Highland Centre, home of the Royal Highland Show has been urged to be a ‘better neighbour’ after a two-day rave at the organisations’ Ingliston venue sparked a ‘high volume’ of complaints.
More than 80 music acts performed at the site over the weekend, but an investigation is now underway after noise complaints – some from residents living several miles away – were received by the city council and local MSP.
A number took to social media, with one resident describing the experience, which went on for almost 12 hours each day, as ‘brutal’, while another resident thought the music was so loud it was coming from her daughter’s bedroom.
Another said: “If it’s loud enough be annoying miles away, it must be deafening at Ingliston”.
Local MSP and Lib Dem leader Alex Cole Hamilton said he had received a number of complaints.
He said: “I could hear the event in Ingliston from my house and I also have had a number of residents in touch about the noise.
"It's clear that households are facing significant disruption. I will be reaching out to event holders and the council to raise these concerns and ask them to ensure that appropriate standards are maintained."
A spokesperson for Edinburgh City Council said: “We have been made aware of complaints which we are assessing.”
One resident who lives around four miles from the venue described the weekend as ‘horrendous’ adding, ‘it wasn’t just the noise level, it’s the fact it went on for nearly 12-hours each day. The showground owners need to consider the impact these events have on people and be a better neighbour.’
A spokesperson for the Royal Highland Centre said: “Being a good neighbour is really important to the team at Royal Highland Centre.
“We have a carefully considered noise management plan in place, which we recently presented at a local forum in March and which was adhered to through this Terminal V weekend.
“The council’s environmental health team were invited to join us on site and took measurements across the weekend, and on Saturday morning we actually had a group of local residents visit the site to tour the PA system and meet the noise teams to look at our processes.
“We are aware that although there were no breaches to the policy, the wind direction and strength did present challenges and that the event was audible further away than usual. There were very few comments or complaints about that, but we made sure to respond to all of these as quickly as possible.”
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