At the regular meeting of the Cessnock City Council Mark Arblaster's Revfest event gained approval to be developed. Opposition to the event attempted to wage a small scale negative publicity campaign with an oppositional council report and negative comments from local police.
Of interest to us are the more general conditions and points raised at the council meeting. There were four main pre-event concerns or conditions flagged by the Council that need to be address to satisfy them and gain proper consent to run the event:
Traffic
Traffic flow and parking seem to have been the main concerns. The Council requires a formal Traffic Management Plan will need to be developed and a risk assessment will need to be carried out. Another concern was ensuring sufficient emergency vehicle access.
Environmental
Dust control seems to have been a major concern, and when the council says 'dust' we think they mean burnout smoke. As well as dust and burnout smoke potentially affecting local residents and businesses the Council was concerned about noise from any public announcement systems and music, vehicles in the static display and driving events.
Health
Health issues are mainly regarding food preparation and waste disposal. Food preparation for any temporary food preparation service has to follow Council’s Temporary Food Premises Guidelines and Food Safety Standards. An adequate supply of water was also flagged as a requirement. With food and drink comes rubbish, so the Council also made it a condition that a proper system of appropriate waste disposal was setup.
Safety
Issues of safety were more general than what we expected and I imagine that whatever insurance provider (probably Shannons) that Arblaster has organised will have other specific requirements. The Council was concerned about correct fencing and the closing of runways to keep entrants and spectators safe. For this to be carried out properly a Crowd Management and Security Plan needs to be prepared. Also to assist in traffic flow user-pays Police need to be provided at applicant’s cost, which should be interesting considering the local commander's comments to the media. Lastly, the NSW Department of Sport & Recreation needs to approve the event to ensure the suitability of the venue as a racing/event facility.
Post event conditions
A number of conditions need to be met after the event including a an event review be carried out to identify attendance numbers and compliance with conditions of Council consent, including any issues which arose on the day of the event which were not planned for.
Arblaster also has to notify NSW Police of the event and indicate to them that Council will be asking for a summary of any change in activity over the weekend including any change in the number car accidents, Penalty Infringement Notices issued, cautions issued, alcohol related incidents and their general impressions of any anti social activity on that weekend.
Good luck to Mark and the Revfest/Autofest crew! They've certainly carried out a lot of work so far!
