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1. I formally oppose Noah’s Backpackers application to increase their occupant capacity. Every week my wife or I have cause to call the Bondi Beach police precinct to complain about the noise and antisocial behaviour of backpackers from Noah’s in the small reserve (known as Boondi Reserve) located on the corner of Campbell Parade and Francis Street from 9pm onwards. As such, Noah's shouldn’t be permitted to increase their occupancy if they can’t control their current numbers.

   Granted not each and every incident in Boondi Reserve which we have observed has been caused by Noah's guests. However the vast majority are. On any given night, we witness a steady stream of Noah's guests exiting the main door from reception, crossing Francis Street and congregating on the corner of Francis and Campbell, in Boondi Reserve around the park bench, or both. Often passersby will join the original group and add to the disturbance.

   The entire beach precinct is an alcohol free zone, yet these visitors show absolutely no respect for either the restriction placed on public consumption of alcohol, nor any respect for their neighbours. Almost every incident involves alcohol and/or marijuana resulting in violence, public urination and defecation, and an assortment of vulgar and obnoxious behaviours, usually including playing music loudly through speakers in the early hours of the morning.

   In the last week alone we witnessed three French idiots come out of Noah's to join the larger group already congregated. Two of whom then proceeded to drop their pants and flash passing cars, while the third ran into the middle of Campbell Parade playing chicken with oncoming cars, taxis and busses. I could tell they were French because every single word they yelled out was perfectly legible from our balcony fifteen metres away.

   Depending how large and drunk the group is we will go to our boundary fence and ask them to move on. Obviously this isn't ideal as it places us in danger depending how intoxicated they are. Most often we simply call the police, but they may not be able to attend due to higher priority calls. On the many, many occasions the police have attended and moved the guests back into Noah's, I suspect they probably had better things to be doing with their time.

   We have raised the issue with Noah's onsite management on multiple occasions. Their response is always the same, "Call the police". I submit that this is not an effective use of police time, to be attending to incidences of antisocial guest behaviour which Noah's should be managing. I suggest that Council should be taking the steps that are in their remit to limit the impact of Noah's guests on the neighbourhood amenity, and allow the police to do the job they should be doing.

   We want Noah’s to be held responsible for the noise and disturbance created by their customers from 9pm onwards. They should not be permitted to house more backpackers until these issues are under control.

   We believe that there are four simple things that can be done to curb the regularity of this issue:

   1) As an enforceable condition of continued operation, Noah’s should abide by the same noise abatement guidelines as licensed social hubs in the area and hire security guards from 9pm to be positioned outside on Francis Street/ Campbell Parade, to ensure their guests are quiet and respectful of their neighbours.

   2) Remove the park bench in Boondi Reserve. This simply serves as a magnet for obnoxious, threatening groups to gather round at night. It is almost never used during the day as it faces a broad expanse of busy main road, i.e. Campbell Parade. It is however situated straight outside our apartment block's front bedrooms. Frankly I cannot think of a more stupidly placed park bench in the entire Waverley LGA.

   3) Install lighting in the rotunda area. The current street lights don’t adequately illuminate this area. Behaviours such as urination, defecation, drinking, drug taking would all become less appealing if the area were well lit.

   4) Embed concrete studs in the top of the safety barrier wall which runs along Boondi Reserve separating the footpath from Campbell Parade. This would discourage backpackers from sitting on top of the wall at night, drinking and smoking pot. Allowing intoxicated guests to continue sitting on top of this wall completely defeats its purpose i.e. keeping pedestrians separate from cars.

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