Agenda and minutes

Councillor Nicholas Bennett was appointed Chairman of the Committee.

There were no declarations of interest.

The application as considered, sought a 1-year premises licence for 2 event days:

A) Saturday 24th September 2022, with a capacity of up to 17,500 ticket holders with regulated entertainment finishing at 22:00 hrs.

B) Sunday 25th September 2022, with a capacity of up to 10,000 ticket holders with regulated entertainment finishing at 19:00 hrs.

The Case for the Applicants:

Mr Phillip Kolvin QC for the applicants made the following points:

Several concessions had been made and the application was now substantially reduced in scope. His client, Mr Miller, (one of the applicants) had a long history of hosting events on similar green field sites and as such was an expert.

The applicant had an experienced team, (including a former senior police officer), and a transport expert would provide sufficient span of control and capability.

The events were explained in detail and it was explained that Saturday would be a dance music festival and Sunday a family event.  Details of the operational management plan were provided, including staffing arrangements, transport to and from the site (with buses to be provided from both Bromley South train station and London Southeast College by Rookery Lane), the monitoring of noise levels and litter picking. It was explained that agreement had been reached with the Public Health Team that a limit of 65 dB should apply on Sunday. For Saturday, the applicants asked for the flexibility of the condition setting a limit of 68db but with a requirement to use best endeavours to limit it to 65db. A number of noise testing sites had been identified which the applicant’s staff would monitor. In addition, a complaints “hot line” would be advised to local residents to lodge concerns for action specifically in relation to noise, but more generally, if deemed necessary.

The applicants invited the grant of a licence with further conditions which was posited to be preferable to refusing to licence the events. The closing times of activities would be staggered, so people would gradually leave piece meal rather than en masse to promote safety.

In terms of modes of transport, the access split would be 30% shuttle bus from local destinations; 20% shuttle bus from Bromley South station, 15% pick up and drop off at college, 10% coach from further destinations, 2.5% local buses, 10% walking (including from Bromley South through Norman Park), 2.5% walking from Hayes station, 10% car parking at car park off Hayes Lane. It was stated that fewer people would come by car than for the boot fairs which have in the past been held on the site and had been the cause of congestion on Hayes Lane and Hayes Street. The representative concluded by discussing the representations. It was said that most festivals take place on sites like this with tracks for access and as such there was nothing special about this site to distinguish it in that regard or access generally.

The case for the Licensing Authority:

Mr Steve Phillips for the Licensing Authority objected to  ...  view the full minutes text for item 3.