NEIGHBOURS have accused festival organisers of “lacking consideration” after being disturbed by noise from the event for weeks.

The Knowsley Social, marketed as “the North West’s biggest socially distanced festival”, has been running four nights a week at Knowsley Safari Park since May 20 and is scheduled to continue until July.

But people living in streets near the Prescot safari park have said the noise is so loud they cannot open their windows.

Daniel Wilson, who lives 550 metres from the venue, said: “It’s just the lack of consideration on the part of the organisers and the licensing authority in allowing something like this to go ahead for nine consecutive weeks.

“Woodstock was only three days long. Who in their right mind thought that nine consecutive weekends would be acceptable to anyone?”

He was keen to stress that if the event had only been for one weekend, he would not have had a problem, but the issue was the fact the event was running Thursday to Sunday for nine weeks.

In complaints to Knowsley Council’s environmental health department, Mr Wilson said residents were unable to sleep before 11pm on most nights of the week thanks to the noise.

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He added that, despite the heat, residents were unable to open their windows “lest we be verbally assaulted by the likes of Five”.

In response to complaints about noise from the Knowsley Social, Knowsley Council told Mr Wilson it was working with the organisers to address the issue. A council spokesperson added that they had not found noise levels loud enough to constitute a statutory nuisance.

Mr Wilson said he had noticed a difference on Sunday night (June 13), but added there was no guarantee this would continue and asked why it had taken so long for the council to take action.

He said: “It started on May 20 and it’s taken until now for the licensing authority to do something about that.

“They should have done that before the event was sanctioned. Why would you leave it until after the fact?”

Mr Wilson added that he was concerned about the effect the noise was having on the animals in the safari park, although he had been told that efforts were being made to direct sound away from their enclosures.

A Knowsley Council spokesperson said “We have received a small number of complaints about noise levels regarding the Knowsley Social. 

“The first one was received on May 27 and since then, we have undertaken investigations which have included monitoring noise levels both on and off site, liaising with residents to discuss their concerns and offering to install noise monitoring equipment in residents’ homes (this offer has been declined to date). 

“We have also liaised with the event organisers regarding the complaints we have received and the findings from our own investigations. They are positively engaging with us and have taken action where advised, such as lowering the base levels. 

“We know from discussions with residents that this has improved the situation. Our own investigations have not recorded noise at a level which would constitute a nuisance. We will continue to monitor the events and the noise levels.”

A spokesperson for the Knowsley Social said: “We have worked alongside the council and noise management experts to develop a noise management plan to reduce any potential sound disturbance for residents. This has been active throughout the festival and will continue to be in place for the duration.

“This involves a range of suppression and cancellation techniques to carefully manage the direction of sound and volumes. 

“The comfort of people in the local area is a top priority for us so sound levels are regularly monitored to ensure there is limited noise beyond the site.

“The same robust Knowsley Social suppression techniques reducing noise for residents are also used to maintain animal welfare and indeed these plans have been reviewed by the local council zoo licensing officer and the local authority zoo inspector. ”