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Friday 14th October, 2005

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‘I gave my dog valium’ to calm his concert nerves

State-of-the-art sound system failed to stop Kenwood noise spillage

NOISE from this summers Kenwood concerts was so bad one man was forced to tranquilise his dog with valium, he claimed yesterday (Wednesday).
This was despite the fact that bosses at International Management Group (IMG) who organise the annual summer concerts for English Heritage had spent £100,000 on the state-of-the-art sound system after complaints from neighbours.
Harley Atkinson, an IT consultant from Fitzroy Park said that noise from the concerts combined with regular fireworks displays meant his seven-year-old golden retriever Billy had to be given Valium.
And sound carrying from the 11 weekend concerts – which included artists like Will Young and Katie Melua – still regularly broke council noise limits. He said: “The whole thing makes the summer months very difficult for us. We used to have the family round for a meal in the garden but now we sit indoors and keep the windows shut and our dog is petrified.
“We had sound engineers from both the council and IMG in our garden monitoring the sound at every concert. The results for the July concerts – excluding one classical concert – showed they consistently went over the limit.”
He added: “The general consensus from people here is that there was little or no improvement. My feeling is that they are trying to run too many concerts and the wrong sort of concerts for a residential area.”
Tony Ghilchik, from the 1,800-strong Heath and Hampstead Society, said he had also been disappointed by the new system.
Writing in the latest edition of the Society’s newsletter, Mr Ghilchik said: “It was designed to focus the sound onto the audience and cut out the sound spilling outside the concert arena.
“The theory is impressive but despite the assurances of IMG, the sound overflowing to the surrounding area is too often still exceeding the Camden limit, proving that such concerts are not suitable for Kenwood.”
A Town Hall spokeswoman said there were a number of breaches of the noise limits imposed by the concerts’ license and bosses were in discussions about what action to take.
She added: “We are talking to IMG ahead of their application for future concerts under the new licensing laws. We have encouraged them to investigate and state their plans for additional noise control methods.”
A spokeswoman from IMG said: “Despite continued efforts to reduce sound spillage by installing a new specially designed system, there were a small number of occasions when the conditions could not be met at one location.
“We are continuing to work closely with the council and residents to ensure that conditions can be met for future concerts so that the concerts can continue to be enjoyed by thousands of Londoners every summer.”

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