The Jack Johnson concert, held in Sydney’s Centennial Park last Saturday, was judging by the cheering we could hear almost two kilometres away in Randwick, an unqualified success.

At least so far as Jack Johnson and his fans were concerned.

Not so enthralled were local residents who are apparently growing ever more irate by both the increasing frequency at which outdoor concerts are held in the park, and the number of occasions such events exceed statutory noise limits.

There were three concerts and six music festivals held in the park between 2005 and last year. Combined they breached noise limits on more than 240 occasions, although 88 of these were considered “allowable breaches” because they occurred during the first 15 minutes of a new act taking to the stage.

These concerns are apparently behind a push, by (not surprisingly) Centennial Park residents, to see more outdoor concerts take place at Royal Randwick Racecourse, which recently hosted the Future Music Festival.

While as a Randwick resident, living in earshot of the Racecourse, I had no issue with the noise of last week’s festival, it was the antics of event goers that miffed me.

People literally parked their cars on footpaths, over driveways, and in laneways, such was their desperation to find somewhere to leave their car.

Other residents complained about rubbish being dumped on nearby streets after the festival, though I didn’t see any evidence of that where I am.

Personally I am all for the festivals and concerts, but there needs to be better provision made to deal with issues such as illegal parking, and clearing up the vicinity surrounding venues after such events.