Park events – let the licensing team know your views

Mighty Hoopla and Cross the Tracks have applied to come to Brockwell Park for a festival on the 8^th and 9^th of June 2019. This will be smaller than last year with fewer festival goers – on present information neither event is set to exceed 20, 000 – and with a considerably smaller amount of the park than was taken up by the Field Day festival last year. We have set out all of the details here – including what the implications will be for the park and more details about how we can move towards more sustainable funding models.

Overall this application represents an improvement on the situation from last year, but there are some concerns about how the festivals will be managed and the clear up afterwards. For full details of the application you can see the official form here.

One of the most important aspects of the approval process is the grant of a license to the festival – this allows them to play live music and sell alcohol and is subject to a very tight legal process, run by the Council’s Licensing Committee. Last year when Field Day and Mighty Hoopla were applying a for a license many residents wrote in commenting on the process and, consequently, a large number of restrictions were placed on the festivals’ operations, relating to noise and security. This had the positive effect of significantly reducing any anti-social behaviour and limiting noise complaints to a handful of cases.

Our view is that the conditions on Field Day’s license last year represent the bare minimum for a festival in Brockwell park and we would ask that any license for Mighty Hoopla and Cross the Tracks should at least match these terms, and go further in some key areas. We want restrictions on closing times in line with the updated licensing policy for the area and enhanced noise restrictions.

It would also be really helpful if residents made their views known to the licensing authority. All it takes is an email to licensing@lambeth.gov.uk with the subject line ‘Mighty Hoopla Representation’. 

For all licensing applications please bear in mind that the committee can only take into account applications dealing with the four objectives under the 2003 Licensing Act:

• The prevention of crime and disorder;
• Public safety;
• The prevention of public nuisance;
• The protection of children from harm.

Any other matter, such as the repair of the ground or bio-diversity cannot be taken into account by the Licensing Committee.

Further event consultations are taking place this week run by the organisers, and if you have any questions about licensing policy or process, do get in touch with Cllr Fred Cowell on fcowell@lambeth.gov.uk.