They were amazed when the four-day Luminosity Beach Festival was built right next to their beach houses last week. The owners feared nuisance from the loud music and festival-goers who came to snoop between the houses. But according to the municipality and the organization of the festival, that has not been the case. “The number of complaints is minimal.”
Walter Sans, spokesperson for the municipality of Zandvoort, informed NH Nieuws. “The weekend went well. The owners of the beach houses were mainly afraid that festival-goers would come between the houses, but that has not happened as far as we know,” he says. “The same goes for noise pollution, the festival has adhered to the noise standards.”
Three hundred free tickets
“It concerns about two or three complaints from beach house owners. If you look at how close the festival was to the houses, it is really not that bad,” says Bo van Eck, of the Luminosity festival. “In general, we have the idea that the weekend went positively. There are of course always different opinions, but I was positively surprised. I was afraid there would be more nuisance.”
The organization has also given away three hundred free tickets to the beach house owners. “So there has certainly been positive interest from the beach hut owners,” Van Eck continues. “Certainly when you weigh that against the few complaints we have received, I think it has been a fairly positive experience overall.”
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According to Van Eck, this is partly because there was no ‘physical nuisance’ from wandering festival-goers. “The fear of this may have arisen from previous experiences, because in the past the festival site has never been completely fenced off,” he explains. “This year it was neatly done, as it should be. As far as we know, no one has been to the beach houses, so that is a great relief.”
To evaluate
“We are still in the middle of the finishing work and when it is finished, we will set a date with the camping associations to evaluate the festival”, Van Eck says. Municipal spokesperson Sans adds: “The permit for the festival also includes a possibility to object, so people who want to can respond to that. All reactions that still come in will be included in the evaluation.”
The umbrella federation of the four beach hut camping associations also emphasizes that ‘agreements have been made with the municipality and the Luminosity organization to evaluate the preparation and implementation of the festival in the short term’. The federation does not want to respond substantively to the course of the festival last weekend and refers to their previously released statement, drawn up prior to the festival:
Message from the federation of camping associations Zandvoort
“The federation of camping associations Zandvoort is concerned about the upcoming festival
Luminosity. This festival, previously announced by the municipality, turns out to be larger and more impactful than we previously estimated. Many of our campers are therefore concerned about the safety of their beach houses, accessibility and possible noise pollution. We are in contact with the municipality of Zandvoort (licensor) about this and hope that they will take sufficient measures to limit the actual nuisance.”
As described, the owners of the beach houses were therefore mainly surprised by the size of the festival and the impact on the residents of the houses. But according to the municipality and the organization it seems that the nuisance has been minimal.
Van Eck adds that the noise nuisance has been minimal. “According to the body that measured the noise, the standards that have been set have been met at all measuring points. We think that about the first six houses next to the festival experienced noise nuisance, but further on you could hardly hear anything.”