Post-lockdown track noise concerns increase

Two Smiths Beach residents have called for more noise controls at the Phillip Island Circuit, even suggesting a complaints hotline be set up by the Bass Coast Shire.

The call comes as the track steps up race and event days post-Covid restrictions, with the lockdown serenity giving surrounding residents a taste for quiet.

Phil Wright – who for three decades has called for the shire and the EPA to monitor and enforce noise breaches – said last week he planned to advocate to the Victorian Ombudsman, because residents were otherwise powerless to act.

“Phone calls to the EPA are told it is a shire problem. The shire says it is EPA. Collectively, there is no control and no rules so they can do what they want,” Phil said, adding the noise was constant, from 9am-6pm.

“Both authorities argue there are minimal complaints. That is correct. If there is no response to requests for control, what can people do?

“Is it time council set up a complaint phoneline where it is easy to register unacceptable noise?”

The most recent data available is a 2015 EPA survey that found noise complaints from the track were the third highest in Victoria at 11 per cent, with amplified music across the state the highest at 48 per cent, followed by noise from Victorian industry (19 per cent).

Smiths Beach resident Ralph Leditschke agreed, saying while the track was a “welcome economic addition to the island” the noise during Covid restrictions was “not missed”.

“Without proper noise abatement and realistic noise levels, the operation of the track severely conflicts with Phillip Island’s values,” Ralph said.

“The island is also a place for all to enjoy the outdoors, nature, activities and beaches. Excessive track noise has a definite adverse effect on these enjoyments.”

Ralph agreed government noise regulations were inadequate, with voluntary noise monitoring by track management done at a distance from the loudest source, “for example where cars and bikes accelerate after a sharp turn”.

“Noise levels are also required to be monitored in areas away from the track, including Smiths Beach. No official has been seen to be measuring on a hill slope, facing the track. This is where noise pollution is greatest.”

Noise levels

Circuit general manager David Bennett told the Advertiser while he appreciated the opportunity to respond to questions “I politely decline to comment”. 

According to noise monitoring data published on the circuit’s website, the track (outside Covid) is busy 293 days of the year, with 21 days “loudest”, above 95dB (noise above 70dB over a prolonged period can start to damage hearing).

Days up to 95dB, described as “quite loud” total 160, with 112 moderate noise days (75dB) and 72 quiet days.

The website provides the daily expected maximum noise level and wind speed and is then updated with the actual measured maximum noise level, wind speed and direction.

In the first week of December, the track predicted five days would be above 95 decibels.

The last week of November there were again another five days predicted to be above 95 decibels, which monitoring showed to be between 81 and 92dB.

In November last year there were no quiet days, with noise ranging between 59 to 97dB.

Before Covid-19 restrictions kicked in around March 20, there were 16 days of noise.

EPA

The EPA confirmed to the Advertiser there were no regulations for trackside noise by motor vehicle racing in Victoria.

“However, if noise is being generated by vehicle testing in excess of the applicable regulations, EPA may have an enforcement role,” the spokesman said.

“EPA has held discussions with track management, which conducts its own noise testing, and has encouraged them to engage with the local community around track noise.

“If residents are impacted by excessive noise that is generated by vehicle testing not in relation to motor sport, we ask them to contact us at 1300 EPA VIC and raise the matter directly with the track management.”

Phil Wright said while he accepted major events, which bring economic value to the island, he was more concerned by “industrial” vehicle testing and small club event days that attracted a few hundred people.

“The environment is the economy on Phillip Island so we have to ask what do we want? Do we want noise 300 days of the year? What is reasonable? During lockdown the sound of native birds came back to Smiths Beach, including species missing for the last 30 years, such as wedge-tailed eagles, black cockatoos and many small visitors."

(Others too have noticed an increase in these species, but this was attributed to the eradication of foxes from the island at a recent Wildlife Management meetings.)

“The council declared a climate emergency this year and the sound at the track is the sound of the planet cooking,” Phil Wright further asserted.

“We need to work out a position where everyone trades off.”

Shire

A shire spokesperson confirmed circuit management had “no legal obligation to undertake noise monitoring, but do so as a proactive measure to minimise disturbance to nearby residents”.

“The use of a motor racing circuit for major events is exempt from noise provisions, however the ancillary use of the track for non-race activities must meet noise requirements,” the spokesman said.

“There has been no evidence that noise restrictions have been breached. EPA and council maintain frequent contact with track management to ensure noise concerns are being appropriately managed.

“There has been no need to pursue enforcement action to date, as track management is working in cooperation with council and the EPA to appropriately manage their operation.”

Failure

The Phillip Island Conservation Society in a submission to State Government noise controls in 2018 highlighted concerns around track noise, saying residents don’t object to major sporting events.

“Even though they are often 90dB trackside and the noise carries easily on the right wind to not only nearby residences but to places as far away as Churchill Island and Rhyll,” the submission stated.

PICS said it was “the frequent industrial use of the track and the apparent lack of any permit control or redress which is the main issue for many members of the community”.

PICS unsuccessfully requested a section be included in the state’s noise act enabling the EPA to control how often unreasonable noise occurred from the industrial use of the circuit.

“The Society believes that community members who have communicated with us on this situation are at risk of harm to their health from the noise pollution to which they are being subjected so often from the industrial use of the GP circuit.”

PICS called for the EPA to enforce controls over the number of days the track was permitted to operate outside of sporting events.