Green light for travelling funfairs

FELIXSTOWE: Travelling funfairs are to continue to be allowed to visit Felixstowe in summer - despite some residents calling for them to be stopped.

The fairs - which take place three times a year at Langer Park, Pier Bight and Convalescent Hill car park - generate complaints each time about noise, loud music, generator fumes, and anti-social behaviour from youths gathering at the sites after they have closed.

In consultation carried out this summer, 29 per cent of people who took part asked for the fairs to be banned.

However, district councillors say the events are a vital part of the resort's attractions to bring in visitors, and people choosing to live near the seafront have to put up with activities which people expect to take place there.

Policy-makers at Suffolk Coastal feel the fairs should continue, with restrictions properly enforced and some changes to put in place to try and solve the conflicts with residents, while work should begin on searching for a permanent site on the seafront, away from homes, for the events.

In a report, visitor services officer Clare Baker said complaints had been ongoing over the Easter, spring bank holiday and carnival funfairs for ten years.

Twice before - in 1999 and 2002 - there had been moves to control the events, including limits on sound levels, banning strobe lighting and air horns, and when dismantling of the rides could take place.

“Complaints continue to be received,” she said.

“These complaints fall broadly into two categories - complaints that the controls agreed in 2002 have been flouted, and requests for further restrictions on the operation of the fairs and carnival, including requests for these events to be stopped completely.”

Should Felixstowe have travelling funfairs - or do they cause too much disruption? Write to Your Letters, Evening Star, 30 Lower Brook Street, Ipswich, IP4 1AN, or e-mail eveningstarletters@eveningstar.co.uk