A JETSKI sports company has been investigated by a council's 'noise police' for organising an event that disturbed residents and prevented children from sleeping.

Executives from Lagoona Park Watersports Ltd, Pingewood, Reading, were called before Wokingham Borough Council's licensing and appeals sub committee on August 26 to answer complaints about excessive noise levels that rang out in the neighbourhood until the early hours of the morning.

The company's will now have to satisfy the council that noise prevention measures need to be put in place and and ask for approval three months in advance and alert local residents, who will be given a telephone number to lodge complaints.

Complaints to the police and council poured in after the Waterworks Lakeside Festival in June this year, when neighbours complained that the amplified din lasted until after 2am.

People complained that their sleepless children had to attend school for exams the next morning and that parents had to go to work.

Regulations state that excessive sound should cease after 11pm, but environmental health officers armed with sound level meters found that high noise levels continued after midnight.

Environment sleuths Michael Heslehurst and Joe Dray arrived at Keepers Cottage, Pingewood Road South, Pingewood, at 10.50pm and concluded that the noise levels would have been audible after 11pm.

Residents reported that the music did not stop until approximately 2.28am and that they were kept awake during this spell.

Complaints came from families in Theale, Calcot, Tilehurst, Burghfield and Sulhamstead. One person thought it was an 'illegal rave.'

A total of 22 complaints were received by West Berkshire and Wokingham councils and 30 complaints about noise were made to Thames Valley Police.

A Wokingham Police Licensing Officer, Steve Deane, said he would support any enforcement actions or review the premises licence.

The Environmental Quality Team was satisfied that there was a breach of one of the conditions and that noise continued to be heard within sensitive premises between 11pm and 2.30am.

Their report said: "Significant disturbance was caused to residents in the vicinity of the site and beyond, and we are satisfied that there was a public nuisance."

They advised that a 'public nuisance' would recur if events of this nature are permitted in future.

On the night in question (Wednesday, June 10) the main culprit was a 'repetitive base beat', said principal environmental health officer Dray.

He said he rested his hand on a cottage window pane and it was 'vibrating with the bass beat.'

He could also hear 'swear words' from a disc jockey (DJ).

Council health chief Patricia Knight said that sleep deprivation had health implications, impacting on metabolism, obesity, diabetes, heart rate, school performance 'and mood the next day.'

A spokesman for the council said that the Licensing Authority chiefs were satisfied that there had been a public nuisance and imposed the following conditions for future events.

The conditions included, the licence holder must notify the Licensing Authority three months in advance of events for their written approval, visiting DJs will be briefed on noise control measures, steps will be taken to alert local residents, who will be given a telephone number to lodge complaints, noise levels must meet a certain criteria as the event takes place, with the decibel (sound) levels diminishing as the events continue until the early morning, and he sound systems will be tested, with any changes notified to the Licensing Authority 28 days in advance of shows.

The premises licence holder is Mrs Shirley McLeod-Ross, of Three Mile Cross, Berkshire, who was contacted by the Reading Chronicle for her response to the committee's decision,