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Grapes - Source: NZPA / John Cowpland -
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Marlborough's viticulture industry is vowing to fight council plans to restrict the use of fans which protect the vines from frost.
The council wants to lower the noise limit on the fans as more lifestylers move into the country and set up home close to vineyards.
"It's more like a torture...it just keeps you awake...there's just no way you can sleep," says neighbour Kevin Eaton.
"We've got double glazing, a good solid house but it's just unbearable."
Eaton's Waihopai house is just 106 metres from what he calls a "frost fighting monstrosity" and he says the noise levels reach 45 decibels inside the bedroom and 78 decibels at the front door.
It's complaints like this which Marlborough District Council hopes to avoid in future with proposals to drop the noise limit on all new frost fans to 55 decibels if they are within 300 metres of a house.
Even at around 300 metres modern frost fans reach around 49 decibels - below the new limit but definitely still audible.
And the wine industry is crying foul. Stuart Smith from the Winegrowers Association says the restrictions will effectively take quite a bit of rural land out of production.
Wine grower Chris Simmonds says only about 1% of the wind machines are causing problems. "We should not be bringing in rules to cover 100% of them," he says.
But Eaton says people have been complaining about the problem for more than five years and the council has "just waited until development's finished before they've actually done anything".
Tempers have flared and last week a man was arrested after a rock was thrown at a helicopter trying to warm up the crop.
"We know there's a problem out there and it's not going to be solved overnight, but we are trying to mitigate some issues," says Marlborough Mayor Alistair Sowman.
Submissions have now closed but with hearings to come the frost fan debate could go round in circles for some time yet.
