City of Newcastle will not proceed with its annual New Year\u2019s Eve\u00a0fireworks\u00a0and concert\u00a0event\u00a0at\u00a0Newcastle Foreshore\u00a0due to\u00a0the ongoing risks associated with mass gatherings and COVID-19.
\nThe\u00a0event attracted an estimated 30,000 people to the Foreshore last year.
\nThe\u00a0City has made the\u00a0difficult\u00a0decision in the interest of the\u00a0community\u2019s\u00a0safety\u00a0and\u00a0will now focus on\u00a0planning for\u00a0smaller alternative celebrations.
\nLord Mayor Nuatali Nelmes said\u00a0while\u00a0a major event on the\u00a0Foreshore\u00a0will not\u00a0go ahead, the City is\u00a0investigating\u00a0a\u00a0once off different\u00a0New Year\u2019s\u00a0celebration\u00a0with a series of\u00a0smaller\u00a0events\u00a0throughout the city,\u00a0pending\u00a0any public health\u00a0measures\u00a0in\u00a0place in\u00a0late\u00a0December.
\n\u201cThe decision to\u00a0not\u00a0go ahead\u00a0with this year\u2019s\u00a0fireworks\u00a0and concert\u00a0event\u00a0is\u00a0a sad one to make,\u00a0but\u00a0it has been made\u00a0with our community\u2019s safety\u00a0in mind,\u201d Lord Mayor\u00a0Nuatali\u00a0Nelmes said.
\n\u201cAs we have seen\u00a0both in\u00a0Australia and\u00a0overseas,\u00a0the\u00a0COVID-19\u00a0pandemic\u00a0has the\u00a0potential to\u00a0worsen\u00a0quickly,\u00a0so\u00a0we\u00a0naturally\u00a0have concerns around the delivery of\u00a0an event that attracts between thirty and forty thousand people into\u00a0the Foreshore.
\n\u201cOur\u00a0New Year\u2019s Eve\u00a0fireworks\u00a0event\u00a0is\u00a0one of the\u00a0City\u2019s most vibrant and exciting\u00a0occasions\u00a0with activities and entertainment\u00a0for the whole family.
\n\u201cThrough\u00a0liaison with key stakeholders including\u00a0NSW Police,\u00a0the City has determined\u00a0that the transport of\u00a0thousands of people\u00a0into and out of the Foreshore precinct\u00a0would\u00a0almost certainly lead to\u00a0pinch points constituting a mass gathering where social distancing is impossible\u00a0to maintain.
\n\u201cWe look forward to\u00a0announcing a different way to\u00a0come together as a community and\u00a0welcome 2021\u00a0with a variety of\u00a0activations\u00a0throughout the city and suburbs.
\n\u201cThis revised program\u00a0will allow\u00a0us to plan\u00a0safer\u00a0opportunities\u00a0for the community to\u00a0celebrate\u00a0together\u00a0with more space and smaller crowd numbers.\u201d
\nNewcastle City Police District Commander, Detective Superintendent Wayne Humphrey APM says the risk of large gatherings during the COVID-19 pandemic\u00a0remains\u00a0of a high concern.
\n\u201cNew South Wales Police will respond to whatever decision the council makes regarding the event.
\n\u201cHowever, the dangers posed by moving tens of thousands of people into and out of the Foreshore precinct for the 9pm fireworks display remains quite high in the current pandemic conditions.\u201d
\nCity of Newcastle encourages Novocastrians to enjoy New Year\u2019s Eve in a COVID Safe way and will continue to work with NSW Police to prioritise public safety.
\nWith a high number of COVID safe businesses operating through the city, this cancellation will provide the capacity in the transport network for people to access hospitality venues safely and encourages celebrations in smaller controlled groups over the evening.
\n\u201cWe hope people come together to enjoy themselves at restaurants and bars as well as at smaller home gatherings on New Year\u2019s Eve,\u201d Cr Nelmes said.
\nThe City will release more information about\u00a0the\u00a02021\u00a0New Year\u2019s\u00a0events\u00a0soon.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
City of Newcastle will not proceed with its annual New Year\u2019s Eve\u00a0fireworks\u00a0and concert\u00a0event\u00a0at\u00a0Newcastle Foreshore\u00a0due to\u00a0the ongoing risks associated with mass gatherings and COVID-19. The\u00a0event attracted an estimated 30,000 people to the Foreshore last year. The\u00a0City has made the\u00a0difficult\u00a0decision in the interest of the\u00a0community\u2019s\u00a0safety\u00a0and\u00a0will now focus on\u00a0planning for\u00a0smaller alternative celebrations. Lord Mayor Nuatali Nelmes said\u00a0while\u00a0a major … Continue reading “City\u2019s New Year\u2019s Eve Foreshore fireworks event cancelled”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8122","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-newcastle"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8122","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8122"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8122\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8122"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8122"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8122"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}