New venue sought for music festival

Organisers of a New Year's Eve music festival are considering options after the City of Perth rejected plans for the event to return to Wellington Square.

The Origin NYE event was expected to attract up to 15,000 people and organisers had sold tickets costing between $150 and $199.

First-release tickets sold out on Tuesday as councillors said they were concerned about the effect on residents in East Perth.

The eight-hour event had been recommended for approval.

Origin NYE organisers used social media yesterday to explain the setback and thank fans for their understanding.

"As you've probably seen, the City of Perth in their infinite wisdom have decided to reject our NYE show," they said. "We will work on a replacement venue."

Ticket sales opened in September and, two days before the council's decision, organisers Horizons Touring thanked fans for their "amazing" support.

Lord Mayor Lisa Scaffidi said the issue was made worse because the promoter sold tickets ahead of getting approval.

Organisers said Wellington Square's central location meant it would "be a breeze to get to and from Origin on a busy night".

But the council's report said WA Police and the Public Transport Authority first opposed an "event of this size and nature" at the site on New Year's Eve because they would not be able to deal with public transport issues and antisocial or criminal behaviour at the festival.

The applicants identified strategies to mitigate their concerns and the PTA said it could support the event, but WA Police said though they did not support it, they would attend incidents if required, the report said.

Mrs Scaffidi said the venue was near high-density home units, there was little parking and no easy access to public transport.

She said though residents were "extremely tolerant" of events, there were issues such as frequency, clean up and antisocial behaviour. The policy allowing two events a year at the venue might be reviewed.