Agenda item
Call-In: Contract for 2012 Olympic Festival Live Site (Mayor's Decision Log No 009)
Report attached
[Note: In view of the potential for disclosure of commercially sensitive information, it likely that some or all of the discussion will need to take place in the exempt part of the agenda. Officers will advise the Committee on this point.]
Minutes:
Councillor Peck presented the Call-in on behalf of Councillors Anwar Khan, Carli Harper-Penman, Carlo Gibbs and Bill Turner.
Councillor Peck then responded to questions from the Committee. The concerns highlighted together with Councillor Peck’s answers, are summarised in the following categories:
· Decision making:
· consultation was due to start on 23 November 2011, effectively after the decision had been made (the decision was published on 31 October 2011).
· the decision was made in private therefore Ward Councillors and parties that would be affected had no opportunity to hear of the decision or raise concerns.
· the Mayor did not attend the Overview and Scrutiny to answer the issues raised.
· Councillor Peck queried the projected income for the Council against the expected contribution.
· Councillor Peck queried the liability accepted by the Council set at £20 million.
· the intended recipients and sum of the charitable contribution by the event organiser had not been specified.
· evidence of event dates advertised through Ticketmaster website contradicted the Mayor's previous undertaking not to hold additional Olympic events as well as the regular events in Victoria Park.
· Capacity issues:
- Victoria Park infrastructure would not cope with the dispersal of the projected numbers nor was Bethnal Green tube station designated as a TFL dispersal route.
- the projected 850,000 to 1 million visitors to the park raised concerns over noise nuisance and overcrowding.
- there were antisocial behaviour issues around times when crowds were to be dispersed.
· Environmental issues:
· the suggested programme of eight commercial events in addition to the established programme of events would have a very damaging impact on Victoria Park.
· there was no evidence of consultation on the impacts of the events with the Police, Transport for London or the Council’s environmental or waste services. There was concern that the transport and security infrastructure would not be able to cope.
· the post-event clean up that would be necessary would in itself cause disruption to the local community.
· the environmental after-effects of the events persisted long after the events were over.
· the projected 850,000 to 1,000,000 visitors to the park raised safety, noise nuisance and overcrowding issues
· impacts of the events extended far beyond the location of Victoria Park to the surrounding neighbourhoods.
· Residents’ inconvenience
- the proposed to finish time for the events was later than that of other London parks which had set a finish time of 10 p.m.
- the additional events meant that residents and other parts of the community would be further deprived of the Park facility. Also, the loss of amenity for those living in social housing in the Bow area had been underestimated as large events deprived many children and residents of use of the park. (In contrast, the purpose of the park, namely “for benefit of the area, for celebration and temperance" was noted).
- the community had been led to believe that the regular programme of community events would not take place in 2012 because of the cultural Olympic event programme.
- post event cleanup activities disturbed the community as they took place early in the morning (6 a.m.)
It was noted that in principal, there was no opposition to the Olympic Festival Live Site proposal as it would bring people together and offered opportunities to generate revenue. The Ward Members’ and the communities could not continue to support the events however, when the frequency of events was such that they adversely affected residents’ lives.
Heather Bonfield, Interim Head of Culture and Jill Bell, Head of legal Services – Environment responded to the concerns that were raised informing the Committee that:
- the contract had been a complex joint tender covering Victoria Park, Hyde Park, and Trafalgar Square and was not funded by the Olympic authority.
- Planning and licensing consultation due to start on 23 November offered an opportunity for community input.
- when the tenders were received, it was apparent commercial events would be required to fund Live Site but; most of the money in this respect was to be raised by the organisers from commercial events in Hyde Park.
- no ticket price was payable for Olympic Live Site events, only an on-line booking fee. The local community would have priority booking rights for a proportion of the free tickets.
- there would be no late night dispersal as the events comprised screening of Olympic events not primarily musical entertainment.
- a dispersal strategy had been prepared.
- the maximum capacity was 30,000 people.
- only 17 Live Site events were planned and their purpose was to enable those, who would otherwise be prevented, to view Olympic events.
Councillor Peck and Overview and Scrutiny Committee Members wished to discuss issues concerning indemnification and contractual matters. In accordance with access to information rules, these were discussed in closed session.
At 9.17 p.m., by resolution of the Committee, press and public were excluded from the meeting during discussion of contractual matters.
The Committee questioned Heather Bonfield and Jill Bellon contractual issues and the risks to the Council and community.
At 9.38 p.m. members of the public were re-admitted to hear the Committee discuss the responses that had been given by officers in open session and sum up its findings.
The Committee considered the views and comments made by Councillor Peck in presenting the call-in, the information given by Heather Bonfield Interim Head of Culture in response to Councillor Peck’s issues and the answers to the Committee’s questions given by Heather Bonfield Interim Head of Culture and Jill Bell Head of Legal Services - Environment.
The Committee's discussion of the call-in brought forward the following views:
- the Committee remained unhappy with the lack of transparency and accountability of the decision making.
- the Committee felt that they should have had access to information on this decision beforehand and noted that, despite Ward Councillors’ efforts, information on the proposal and proposed arrangements had not been forthcoming, neither through Councillors’ enquiries nor through requests at Council.
- the Committee felt that the process taken had not been transparent.
- the Committee wished that the forthcoming consultations be undertaken as widely as possible and also reported widely to Ward Councillors and regulatory committees as appropriate.
- the Committee remained concerned about the scale of the indemnification accepted.
- the Committee accepted that the event would be beneficial to the community however, in their, view this did not justify the process that had engaged in decision making.
- the Committee was disappointed that the Mayor had not attended to answer its concerns
- the decision had been incorrectly categorised as ‘not a Key Decision’ as the effects evidently would extend beyond the limits of one Ward and significant sums of money were involved.
The Committee felt that the decision on a matter of such importance had been taken in an unaccountable and opaque way. In Members’ view the matter should have been addressed in an open manner. The Chair wished therefore request to meet with the Mayor to address her issues and to propose that in future significant Borough issues were addressed appropriately.
Following discussion, the Overview and Scrutiny Committee endorsed the reasons for the call-in and alternative action proposed as submitted by the call-in Members and set out below:
Not to sign the contract until local residents, the Friends of Victoria Park Group and ward councillors have been consulted to ensure that their concerns can be reflected in the agreement;
To take any decision at Cabinet, where residents and councillors can make representations
To limit the hours of operation to a 10p.m. close on week nights and 11p.m. on weekend nights
Reduce the noise levels permitted at events
To make a commitment not to run commercial events in the same year as the park is used as a Live Site.
The Chair acknowledged that due to urgency it would be necessary for the further consideration of the decision to be undertaken by the Mayor rather than at the Cabinet meeting. However, given the Committee's serious concerns, they would still wish to report to the Cabinet on the matter setting out those concerns.
The Committee endorsed the Chair’s comments. In particular, in relation to the process for the decision, the Committee felt that the Mayor’s decision not to treat this matter as a Key Decision, thereby avoiding the requirement for prior publicity and/or consultation with the Chair of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee on the matter, was wrong.
The Committee agreed to make a report to the next Cabinet meeting on this matter and to discuss with the Mayor, guidelines for dealing with such matters in future.
RESOLVED
1. That the Chair, due to urgency, refer the decision for further consideration by the Mayor rather than at the Cabinet meeting.
2. That the Committee make a report to the next Cabinet meeting on this matter and discuss with the Mayor guidelines for dealing with such matters in future.
Supporting documents:
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Call in Live Site covering report OSC, item 3.1
PDF 84 KB
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Mayoral Decision 009 - Contract for 2012 Olympic Festival Live Site, item 3.1
PDF 217 KB