A FIVE-YEAR approval for Days on the Green at Centennial Winery will put the Southern Highlands on the map as a concert venue and tourism destination, promoter Michael Newton said yesterday.
Wingecarribee Council this week voted to allow Roundhouse Promotions to hold up to three concerts each summer for the next five years.
Past Day on the Green concerts in Bowral have attracted up to 8,000 people, with about 40 per cent coming from out of town, council was told.
Accommodation in the Southern Highlands is consistently sold out for Day on the Green and it is estimated that direct spending by visitors and local injects more than half a million dollars into the economy.
However, residents living near Centennial Winery have objected to noise and traffic during the concerts.
Resident Jan McAuley told council that Day on the Green had become a "grand wine sale with musical accompaniment".
Mrs McAuley said the noise and traffic from such as large scale event were unacceptable in a residential area.
She compared the concerts to having P-Plate drivers revving around the front lawn with boom boxes as full blare.
Mr Newton said Roundhouse was serious about resolving issues of noise and traffic.
"People are coming to an outdoor concert and an outdoor concert involves amplified music," he said.
"But we have agreed to a 10pm curfew on Saturday and an 8pm curfew on Sunday, so residents will know that the show is going to be over by 10pm.
"We are very keen to work with council, other stakeholders and residents to address problems in whatever way we can."
Mr Newton said noise levels could be reduced by using delay speakers so that the main speakers did not have to throw all the way to the back of the amphitheatre.
But amplification requirements varied with the requirements of artists, he said.
Noise monitoring at the last two Days on the Green found the Jimmy Barnes concert was twice as loud as Leonard Cohen.
Cr Graham McLaughlin, who lives near Centennial Winery, said he was sympathetic with residents' concerns but believed the concerts benefited a lot of local businesses.
Having attended three concerts (and heard the Jimmy Barnes concert from his home) he said the events were well run and very enjoyable.
"This is jobs. This is employment," he said.
"If we were to throw this out we would be losing a unique thing for our shires to other shires."
Deputy Mayor Ken Halstead voted against approval, arguing that the concerts were not permissible as an ancilliary activities to the winery and that the noise and traffic were unacceptable.
Cr Jim Mauger also voted against the concerts, warning that they could degenerated as the Bong Bong Races had done in the 1980s.
But Mayor Duncan Gair said Wingecarribee Shire should be proud that a promoter was willing to make a commitment to local Day on the Green concerts.
"It saves a lot of traveling and time to get to Sydney venues to see something that we can now see in our own backyard," he said.
Mr Newton said he was very pleased with the council's decision.
"We think the council was very positive and were happy they could see the benefits of having our shows in the area.
"The underlying economic investment is substantial, not only in the Southern Highlands but in every show we do."
Mr Newton said Roundhouse was already talking to international acts for next summer and had included Bowral in proposals for a couple of artists.
He said the beauty of the of the Southern Highlands and its proximity to Sydney, Canberra and Wollongong made it an attractive venue for artists as well as audiences.
"Leonard Cohen said Bowral was his favourite show of the whole tour," he said.
"When he went out on stage to do a sound check, he did a double take."
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