Agenda and draft minutes

There were no apologies for absence.

There were no items of urgent business.

There were no declarations of interest.

Noted.

Please note the event management plans have been attached from page 95 onwards for reference.

The Licensing Officer, Daliah Barrett, presented the report on an application for a new premises licence on behalf of Live Nation for Finsbury Park, Seven Sisters Road, London N4 and covered the following points:

·        The police had made representations regarding the application as set out in the agenda pack. Agreement on most of these had now been reached with the applicants, with the exception of proposed closing times, which the police and applicant would cover in their representations to the Committee.

·        Environmental Health had also made representations on the application and it was reported that some agreement had been reached on the conditions proposed, although some detailed wording was still to be agreed, which would be covered by Environmental Health and the applicants in their address to the Committee during the hearing.

·        The Licensing Authority had made representations in respect of the application, and all of their proposed conditions had been agreed with the applicant, with the exception of the terminal hour for regulated entertainment and the sale of alcohol on Sundays. The proposed condition around searches was deleted, as the Licensing Authority were happy to accept the wording of the police’s proposed condition on this matter.

·        Representations had also been received from local residents, the London Borough of Islington and local Councillors, the majority of which related to the potential for public nuisance arising from the application. Measures suggested in the representations included stricter noise restrictions, advance warning of events, earlier finish times, a reduction in the size of the licensable area and controls on access of lorries and other heavy machinery to the park, for greater mitigation of the impact on park users and local residents. Concerns had also been expressed regarding the effect of holding events on school days, and the negative experiences of events held by a different promoter during the previous year.

·        Ms Barrett gave further details of some of the issues that had arisen during the event by SJM during the summer 2013. It was noted that different ingress / egress routes had been trialled which had led to congestion issues and crowds outside nearby public houses, and to problems with the nearby school and access to local bus-stops.

·        A de-brief meeting had been held following the event, at which the need for additional toilet facilities outside the event boundary had been discussed, in light of concerns regarding public urination.

·        Given issues that had arisen in respect of nearby schools, the parks service had liaised with the schools and discussed with them measures that would be taken to avoid such problems with future events. Although the concerns raised related to an event organised by a different promoter, it was reported that Live Nation had been in discussion with the parks service regarding how to avoid such issues in future and that this dialogue was ongoing.

In response to a question from the Committee regarding the lessons that had been learned following the Stone Roses concerts organised by SJM, Ms Barrett advised that these included  ...  view the full minutes text for item 15.