Agenda item
Report Called In - Commercial Activities in Victoria Park
(Time allocated – 30 minutes)
Minutes:
Further to their respective declarations of personal and prejudicial interests, Councillors Alibor Choudhury, Rabina Khan and Rania Khan left the room during the Committee’s decision making and voting on this item.
Councillor Ohid Ahmed who had not been present for the previous agenda item also left the room during this time.
The Committee considered a presentation of the Call-in by Councillors Marc Francis and Amy Whitelock who detailed the reasons for the Call-in and the alternative courses of action proposed. Councillor Francis also submitted a petition on behalf of four hundred local residents.
Committee Members put detailed questions to both Councillors on a number of issues including the historical use of the site, the growth of annual events, whether or not the London Borough of Hackney had been approached regarding a financial contribution, the amount of income Tower Hamlets actually received, whether or not consultation had taken place with residents adjacent to the four proposed new sites, and why alternate methods of funding had not been sought for Paradise Gardens.
The Lead Member for Regeneration, Councillor Rania Khan, and Heather Bonfield, Interim Service Head - Cultural Services, responded on behalf of the Cabinet commenting that the policy sought to achieve a careful balance between the needs of the local community and that of the Council to generate income, with the number of commercial and non commercial events proposed making this viable.
The Council was required to find savings of £72 million over the next 3 years and to achieve this income needed to be generated. It was not possible to hold all the free community events as well as reducing the number of commercial events.
After the ‘Radiohead’ event the Council had commissioned a specialist external review of the Park to determine the optimum location of the infrastructure for events, the maximum sound levels that should be permitted, a risk assessment relating to the number of events that should be permitted and arrangements to ensure that robust controls were in place during events to ensure that sound limits were not exceeded. These had operated successfully and in 2010 an average of less than ten complaints per event had been received.
The noise in parks was monitored by sound specialists at specific points throughout the event season and a report prepared suggesting any improvements which could be made for the following year. Victoria Park was 218 acres whereas the shielded site was around 39 acres, which is only 18% of the park.
Approval for ‘Lovebox’ had not been granted primarily to fund the Fireworks event. One of the benefits of the programme was that it had enabled the promotion of community events including the annual Fireworks event, but the two were not inextricably linked. One of the problems with the Fireworks event was that its attendance has grown exponentially over the past three years – from 45,000 in 2008, to over 60,000 in 2009 and over 90,000 in 2010, and there was no way to control attendances which had resulted in spiralling costs.
“Paradise Gardens” was much enjoyed by the community and the loss of the event was regrettable, however it was one of two free events that attracted 150,000 people over 3 event days resulting in considerable disruption for the local community.
In response to questions the Overview and Scrutiny Committee were advised that the Council was currently committed to four events and could be liable for any costs already incurred by the event organisers if these were now cancelled.
Consultation would need to be not only with residents living next to the park as the benefits were enjoyed by a much wider group of people. The historically low level of complaints about events indicated that there was only a relatively small number of people who felt strongly about this issue.
If the events were reduced to six the firework display would not be feasible. The cost was high because of the large number of people and the measures needed to ensure their safety.
The Committee expressed concern regarding the lack of consultation with residents, and the fact that a serious approach to Hackney Council regarding a financial contribution to the cost of the firework display had not been made. The options for further funding provision to secure the future of Paradise Gardens also needed to be explored.
After considering the views and comments made by the Members presenting the call-in, the Cabinet Member for Regeneration - Councillor Rania Khan, and Mrs Heather Bonfield, Interim Service Head, Cultural Services, the Committee:
RESOLVED
not to endorse the Cabinet’s provisional decisions but instead ask the Cabinet to give further consideration to the alternative course of action proposed by the call-in Members as follows:
1) That the Mayor restrict the number of commercial events in Victoria Park during the summer of 2011 to a maximum of six days/nights.
2) That the Mayor publish details of the income generated from the commercial events in 2010.
3) That the Mayor undertake consultation with residents of those wards surrounding Victoria Park about the maximum number of events that should be held in future years.
4) That the Mayor continue the Victoria Park fireworks display, and formally ask LBH to contribute to the cost of this event.
5) That the Mayor to continue the popular Paradise Gardens event, exploring ways to reduce the cost.
Supporting documents:
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Call-in cover report, item 5.1
PDF 74 KB
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Commercial events in parks - Cabinet 09 March final, item 5.1
PDF 111 KB