The axe has come down - Tauranga City Council will no longer offer an organised event at Mount Maunganui Main Beach on New Year's Eve.
Instead, council will focus on measures that "enhance a safe environment" on NYE, as well as introduce a youth event at ASB Baypark Arena for young people aged 18 and under.
Tauranga City councillors have voted to can the traditional, council-run New Year's Eve celebrations. File Photo.
Elected members voted for the changes an extraordinary meeting of council on Tuesday afternoon.
'Tauranga City Council and police have invested a significant amount of time and effort into investigating all the relevant information on the issues that occur on New Year's Eve,” says a council spokesperson.
'Through a detailed assessment of the New Year's Eve event at Mount Maunganui Main Beach, it became obvious that visible and significant change was required to the activities on offer and to shift from managing public disorder to managing public safety.
'The event did not provide a safe environment for residents and visitors and has become financially unsustainable.'
How NYE in Tauranga will look in the future is still yet to be determined, and all strategic decisions will be based on building a safe environment for visitors and residents. This will be assessed and determined over time.
Council is working with police and other key organisations to put in place enhanced emergency services and safety controls to work towards a safer place for communities, says the spokesperson.
'Council will invest in safety measures such as traffic management, lighting of dark areas and the beach, fencing of vulnerable areas, security to support Police and other emergency services and will not invest in entertainment at Mount Maunganui Main Beach on New Year's Eve.”
A series of events that make up council's summer events programme will still take place over the Christmas and New Year period – December 20 to January 8. The programme will offer activities to be enjoyed by all audiences, but will place an emphasis on attracting families to the area.
Council will also work alongside police to inform residents and visitors on how to plan ahead and how to stay safe during New Year's Eve in Tauranga, says the spokesperson.
REVIEW OF NEW YEAR'S EVE EVENT AT MOUNT MAUNGANUI MAIN BEACH:
- Council, in collaboration with key stakeholders such as NZ Police and St John, has undergone a detailed review of the current event structure. This included impact and risk assessments as well as independent reviews.
- As a result, four alternative event options have been considered in order to achieve a safer environment for the community. These included: keeping the current format, changing the event to a family festival, more than one event in the city, ticketed events and changes to the site layout.
- Further investigation of these options made it clear that in order to manage the risks associated with an event on New Year's Eve, cost of implementing a safe event would increase significantly.
- The proposed option to not offer an organised event on New Year's Eve proved to be the most sustainable option under the current circumstances for this year's New Year's Eve in Tauranga.
29 comments
What if....
Posted on 04-10-2016 18:22 | By Dazed and Confused
Bay Venues wanted the event at ASB and the TCC will still have to cover all the cost. Bay Venues score a great profit because TCC will not get a discount on venue hire. If this is the case its a bloody clever idea and Im happy with that.Throw in catering etc and it make sense to the max.But its a bloody shame to see the Mt Party spoilt by dorks and Knuckle heads and H & S rubbish.
Time will tell
Posted on 04-10-2016 18:30 | By The author of this comment has been removed.
Young, fuelled and nowhere to go spells trouble. An impromptu unsupervised gathering will take place at the main beach and that means trouble. I just hope it rains. Call me a killjoy if you want to.
Oldies win again.
Posted on 04-10-2016 19:32 | By jed
Absolutely amazing, after 30 or more years of new years parties at the mount the current councillors are osh driven politically correct wimps.
Dear oh Dear
Posted on 04-10-2016 20:40 | By WSTAKL
This decision sums up Tauranga to a tee, a backwards, conservative, white middle class, family orientated town where the fun police ruin everything for the vast majority. Lets hope that now this decision has been made the roads aren't blocked off early afternoon and the booze ban is lifted.....I mean why not, people clearly can't have fun down there this NYE so what does it matter?! Farcical!
Back to the Old days
Posted on 04-10-2016 21:42 | By tabatha
I hope the police have the Alcatrax jail ready for NYE as we will see multiple arrests again. I presume the roads will be open, oh dear problems again.
To Party or Not
Posted on 04-10-2016 22:32 | By waiknot
There will be a New Year Party at the Mount with or without council input. Historically this is one of the places to be.and that's not likely to change. But let's all bury our heads in the sand and act surprised the day after and tut tut about it.
One towns loss is another towns gain
Posted on 05-10-2016 05:06 | By Pap Local
WOW what a great idea, lets shut everything off and make all the tourists go somewhere else, let another town reap the profits of thousands of visitors! How short sighted are we, its not only young people who enjoy the celebrations down there, hundreds of families and older couples also take part in it. This is exactly the reason why i haven't voted any of the current councilors in the upcoming election.
Interesting comments
Posted on 05-10-2016 06:45 | By Ellajj
I really expected everyone to be happy because of the cost savings?
Agree with most of the below comments.
Posted on 05-10-2016 07:29 | By dookie
Poor decision that will once again hurt Tauranga. People are still going to come to the Mount and with the rise of social media, it's only a matter of time before a huge unofficial 'flash-mob' party is organised and causes problems much greater than the few incidents experianced most years.
Out of Touch
Posted on 05-10-2016 08:00 | By LeeW
The ASB event is doomed to fail. The teens that go to the Mount are not the type to want to go to an alcohol free event, miles away from the beach. It's going to cost TCC a fortune and be an embarrassing flop.
This is what happens
Posted on 05-10-2016 08:21 | By BullShtAlert
This is what happens when our police become weak on law and order and treat troublemakers with kid gloves.
NYE
Posted on 05-10-2016 08:28 | By Denny G
Let's hope the new council has the guts to rescind and allow some type of New Years celebration
As if!
Posted on 05-10-2016 08:45 | By RawPrawn
Do these muppets really believe that people AREN'T going to congregate down at the Mount, regardless of what the else is planned?! The Police think they've had problems recently, but this will return them to the days of more widespread mayhem. And why have hardly any of these alleged NYE assaults etc ever been reported by the media at the time. Fiasco!
Easy
Posted on 05-10-2016 08:59 | By whataplace
I guess it's very easy to sit back and cast judgement on the Police and Council on the decision that they have made. If you knew all the facts, most of which are not suitable to put on sunlive, you would not have wanted your daughters to be at the event last year.
This city..
Posted on 05-10-2016 09:06 | By Me again
has never been about our young. It's all about TCC and how they can spend to their advantage, and of course looking good for the overseas market of tourist. Tauranga has got boring through boring little people running council.
Why am I
Posted on 05-10-2016 09:58 | By earlybird
not surprised. Christmas last year in Tauranga was a non event. Now New Years Eve is going to follow suit. I thought Tauranga was the 5th largest city in NZ - I must have been mistaken.
Ambush?
Posted on 05-10-2016 11:44 | By FunandGames
were the Tauranga councillors ambushed with this late last minute meeting about the New Year Party. It smells bad with a predetermined out come
NYE
Posted on 05-10-2016 11:55 | By surfsup
Having been involved with the event for 2 years with no major problems it all changed with the wrong mix of bands, especially last year which did not cater for the family groups that the council should have been encouraging.Get the music wrong as they did last year and the boofheads will be out in droves. The atmosphere last year was toxic and whataplace is quiet right, no place for anybody who wanted a safe night out. Re the cost , a council that can spend $50.000 on bollards,$600.000 to the Hockey association can not use $$$$$ as an excuse.
No suprises
Posted on 05-10-2016 13:16 | By Kenworthlogger
That the ones whinging on hear are probably ok with booze fueled viloence. Im certain none of them would let their daughters attend but am guessing they are too young to have daughters. Rawprawn it was widely reported on this media outlet about the sexual assaults that took place last year.
SurfsUp
Posted on 05-10-2016 14:15 | By FunandGames
Maybe the bands were organized last year so as to make this years cancellation easier to justify?
fun and games
Posted on 05-10-2016 16:03 | By whataplace
It wasn't just the crap music and bands last year that has bought this about. Groups of young men roving the venue looking for any female alone or slightly drunk, to then surround and sexually molest! Hardly the music's fault!
Really..
Posted on 05-10-2016 18:20 | By Me again
Bands that play good music and really entertain the different groups of people NO booze to be sold And No drunks. Use the security services that are available in this city. Surely for one night in a year this can be done with better logistics. Oh sorry to expensive, must pay for all the other Cr.... stuff that the TCC throw up at us ratepayers. And as someone has wrote it will end up in another town. Tauranga is not a vibrant city... it has nothing left!!
At last
Posted on 05-10-2016 19:24 | By The umpire
The TCC have got the balls to say "no more" to the drunk fest that had become NYE at the Mt. Having been over the years it has been going down hill for yrs. home owners along the main beach must be clapping there hands, more votes for these guys
Whataplace
Posted on 05-10-2016 19:36 | By FunandGames
You may be right, but certain people are attracted to a venue by certain types of music. Also I hear lots of talk about sexual assaults but no actual concrete evidence.
NYE
Posted on 05-10-2016 20:11 | By mickey mouse
Yes, great response from the Tauranga Council.Fully agree with your comments Whataplace, the headlines 'Too costly,not safe' sums up the atmosphere that has pervaded over the years. Excellent decision by the TCC, full marks for a touch of realism from our council.
Who was there?
Posted on 05-10-2016 21:04 | By Ellajj
Last NYE the atmosphere was not fun or exciting. It was very tense and not pleasant at all. How many of the other commenters were there and what did they think?
@ The umpire
Posted on 06-10-2016 11:36 | By Crash test dummies
Agree, but sadly it is only on the trivial stuff, they will spend it anyway and no savings to ratepayers as a result. The big stuff still sails though no thinking no thoughts at all just the usual stuff.
Unsafe
Posted on 06-10-2016 16:44 | By LeeW
Last year was definitely unsafe for girls and young women. There were many groups of predators specifically targetting girls without male chaperones. Some of the girls were not even drunk (although many were). Unfortunately, for the sake of political correctness, the council and police are reluctant to provide more details. Talk to anyone who was there last year and you will get the picture. I saw it with my own eyes and was disgusted.
I was there last year...
Posted on 07-10-2016 01:54 | By jed
It was pretty tense... did not feel totally safe with my kids... saw some fights. Lots of F* words. Much worse than the previous year. My fix is better screening , not cancellation.
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