The Osse Kermisfeesten are not allowed to continue this year with loud music and performances in the open air. Several local residents of the Eikenboomgaard, where the party is being held, won – just like in 2018 – a lawsuit from the municipality of Oss to prevent noise nuisance in their neighborhood.
Every year during the fair, a large party tent is set up in the center of Oss. This year the party would take place on the Eikenboomgaardplein from 18 to 21 August. But according to local residents, the music is always too loud. “The walls and cups were shaking and the TV couldn’t be heard. It drove us crazy,” a resident of the neighborhood previously told Omroep Brabant. And that is why they, the organization and the municipality of Oss were again in court on Monday.
“It will be a very different party in a very different place.”
Mayor Wobine Buijs issued the permit on 8 August. According to the municipality’s lawyer, this was possible because the organization has made many adjustments to prevent noise pollution. “It will be a very different party in a very different place,” the organizer said during the session.
The Christmas festivities have been shortened considerably. The event now lasts only four days instead of seven. The parties also stop earlier in the evening. And all eight hundred visitors – that used to be two thousand – have to buy a ticket in advance.
Yet local residents were shocked that the municipality of Oss had even granted a permit. “The municipality had promised not to allow large events with loud music on Eikenboomgaardplein this year. I never expected this,” says a local resident who prefers to remain anonymous, because she was pelted and threatened after the won lawsuit in 2018.
“The mayor should have done her homework better.”
In 2018, local residents of the Eikenboomgaard also faced the municipality in court. Then the court decided that the outdoor parties were allowed to continue, but without music. The organization did not like that and so the Fair Parties with outdoor music in 2018 and 2019 were cancelled. Due to corona, the parties could not be held for the past two years either.
The organization is disappointed with the ruling. “We have already incurred costs for 30,000 euros, so I am not sitting here relaxed,” said the organizer. “If the event doesn’t go ahead, we’ll be here again soon. Then my neighbors are liable for all costs that I have incurred.”
The judge realizes that this is a very bad message. “That bad message could have been prevented if the municipality had responded more carefully and earlier to the permit application,” says the judge. “The mayor should have done her homework better.”
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