Everton Kirkby inquiry: Expert accused of using rock concert code
MATCH-DAY noise at Everton FC's proposed stadium will be as loud as a vacuum cleaner for neighbouring families in Kirkby, according to an acoustics expert.
Jim Powlson, a consultant for Manchester based WSP Acoustics, speaking on behalf of Tesco and Everton, said people living on the Grange estate would have to cope with up to 73 decibels at worst and that fell within approved guidance.
But Andrew Pykett, sitting on the bench alongside planning inspector Wendy Burden, accused Mr Powlson of picking and choosing which bits of guidance he accepted.
He said: "It's almost as if you're extracting the bits that suit your argument."
He asked why Mr Powlson had chosen to rely on the environmental nuisance regulations which govern acceptable levels of noise at pop concerts when the stadium proposals rule them out.
He said: "To prove environmental nuisance on noise is quite difficult whereas the planning system as in the UDP (Unitary Development Plan) all that is needed is impact on residential amenity.
"In short you don't need as much noise to affect amenity as you do to get on to the level of an environmental problem.
"Using the Pop Code (the environmental nuisance regulations governing rock concerts) is inappropriate."
Instead, he suggested the noise assessment used criteria the stadium development would easily meet.
But Mr Powlson said that, in fact, he had used pop concert codes as well as planning guidance to check whether the stadium would affect its neighbours.
The impact was considered "moderate adverse" at worst thanks to the stadium's enclosed design, he concluded.
He declined to answer why no roof had been used as in Cardiff's Millennium Stadium to contain noise despite referencing it in his evidence.
RECAP on the public inquiry so far by visiting www.liverpooldailypost.co.uk/everton-fc/everton-fc-stadium/
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