The owner/director of Trackschool told The Post that motels, restaurants and other businesses fielded cancellations following Wednesday's NSW Land and Environment Court's decision on Wakefield's operations.

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The ruling, handed down by Commissioner Tim Horton, restricts the Braidwood Road facility to about 30 events annually where noise can exceed 95 decibels averaged over 15 minutes. There must be 11 respite days between each of these 'red category' events. The Commissioner also imposed eight respite days between each 'amber category event (85 dBA and four respite days between 'green' events.

It came after Wakefield owners, Benalla Auto Club WMR Holdings, challenged conditions in a July, 2021 council approval.

Benalla Auto Club vice-president, Bruce Robertson has branded it an "appalling decision" which would severely restrict operations and have economic flow-on effects.

It triggered an emergency meeting between the council and Wakefield Park on Monday, July 18, in an effort to find a solution. Mr Boston is buoyed by the development.

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He shifted his driver training business to Wakefield Park 11 years ago after Oran Park raceway closed. He also runs 'V8 Hot Laps' at the circuit and liaises with manufacturers and police over their usage. He runs about six events a month.

He said 80 people were booked in for a What Ability corporate event at Wakefield on Monday, July 18. Hundreds more had signed up for five other fixtures this month. All but one had to be cancelled.

"The amount of people that will be affected is unbelievable," Mr Boston said.

"There were 100 people booked in for lunch at the (onsite) cafe, which is a mentoring program PCYC runs for disadvantaged youth. That won't be going ahead."

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He said the operator of one local motel told him they had lost $2500 in bookings as a result of the day's cancellation and another had 25 rooms cancelled. Forty people pulled out of dinner at a local hotel, and 60 cancelled a breakfast booking at a cafe on Monday.

"That's just for us alone and there would be others who have not spoken up," Mr Boston said.

He described the court decision as "extremely harsh" and said it would impact not just business but the thousands of people who flocked to the venue annually. Industry bodies such as Motorsport Australia had also weighed into a storm of social media comment over the weekend.

"Sydney Motorsport Park is at capacity so if Wakefield Park is lost, where will people go?" Mr Boston asked.

"...I have hundreds of thousands of dollar tied up in cars, equipment and infrastructure at Wakefield and to know that can't be used is quite frightening. We also employ 12 people so it's an urgent situation for us."

His business will hold one more event this month but he says "everything is up in the air" after July.

In a letter to the editor, a senior instructor with Trackschool, Mal Rose, said the business advised him there was no more work.

"In my employment by John Boston...we have never broken any noise regulation during our days we operate. However I'm now unemployed from a job I've done for 30 years .Can someone explain how I can support my family?" he wrote.

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Meantime, Goulburn Chamber of Commerce president Darrell Weekes has called for an urgent resolution. He said businesses had contacted him over the weekend, worried about the lost trade.

"If we don't have a sensible look at this and take into account everyone affected, not just the noise, it will have an impact on the community that will take years to recover from," he said

"We have to consider the businesses affected but also the (Wakefield Park) staff who spend in town."

However Mr Weekes called for calm on the social media front and an end to "misinformation" about the source of noise complaints. He too hoped for a breakthrough in a meeting between Wakefield Park and the council.

"We have some smart people involved and if you take the emotion out of it, surely we can find a solution that doesn't require Wakefield Park to compromise. This ruling also has an impact on all NSW because there are only two racetracks in the state and the industry contributes millions to the economy.

"This (decision) is a stake in the ground and we have to fix it right now."

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