Decision details

That the Interim Director - Commercial and Operations:
1) grants final approval to the event promoters, to hire Finsbury Park to hold a one-day concert on 1 July 2017 and the Wireless festival on 7, 8 & 9 July
2017, subject to the signing of the Council’s commercial park hire
contract.
2) notes that the final hire fee, as detailed in paragraph 8.1.1 of the report, is an increase since the Cabinet Member decision made in Feb. 2017 which authorised conditional in principle approval for the hire.

On 5 September and 15 December 2016, the Council received two
applications from Live Nation (UK) Music Ltd to hire the Park to stage
the Wireless 2017 music festival on 7, 8 & 9 July 2017, and to hold a
one-day concert on 1 July 2017. If approved, this would be the fourth
successive year that the Wireless event has been held in the Park.

Pursuant to the Council's Outdoor Events Policy 2014, on 24 February 2017 the Leader of the Council (in the absence of the Cabinet Member for Environment), having taken into account the comments received from Finsbury Park stakeholders on the proposed events, authorised the grant of in principle agreement to the applications for the two events to be held in July 2017. The Leader also agreed that conditions should be attached to any final approval as explained in paragraph 4.5 below. The report considered by the Leader erroneously (through an administrative error) referred to the applications for the hire as being from Festival Republic Ltd, an associated company of Live Nation (UK) Music Ltd which in fact submitted the applications. Festival Republic Ltd also plays a role in the staging of the events the applications relate to.

At the time of the Leader’s decision, the Council was waiting to hear from the Court of Appeal regarding a date for the appeal from the High Court’s decision dismissing a Judicial Review claim by the Friends of Finsbury Park against the Council’s decision to permit the application to stage Wireless 2016 in Finsbury Park.

Given the potential proximity of the appeal to the proposed events and the uncertainty over the hearing date - and notwithstanding the fact that the law remains as found by the High Court unless or until it is overturned on appeal - it was important that the Council took all necessary, proportionate and reasonable steps to protect its position when considering all applications in the interim.

Accordingly, the Leader’s decision authorising in principle agreement to the applications listed certain conditions to be attached to any final approval of the applications. These conditions and the current position on them is as follows:

Approval is conditional on the outcome of the appeal to the Court of Appeal being to uphold the decision to the High Court.

It has now been confirmed that the Court of Appeal hearing is set for the end of October 2017. As a result, there has as yet been no outcome of the appeal to the Court of Appeal and the High Court’s decision remains the law. So there is no outcome of an appeal preventing the applications being approved.

Approval is given subject to contract.

The park hire agreement between the Council and Live Nation (UK) Music Ltd, has now been fully agreed in principle between the parties and is only awaiting the final approval recommended in paragraph 3.1 of this report before it is signed and executed.

Delegated authority is given to the Interim Director, Commercial and Operations, acting on advice from the Assistant Director, Corporate Governance, to attach any other conditions as deemed appropriate.

The Council’s park hire agreement has been settled by the Parks Service in consultation with, and on the advice of, legal officers acting under the general authority of the Assistant Director, Corporate Governance. The agreement contains robust and detailed terms and conditions that address the main areas of concern arising out of stakeholder consultation including protection of the Park, vehicle management within the Park, the avoidance or mitigation of disturbance to surrounding residents and the wider public and they require the Promoter to have all relevant permissions in place including those set out under the Premises Licence.

The Safety Advisory Group (SAG), the body overseeing and ensuring the conditions of the Premises Licence are adhered to, has met regularly over the past few months to ensure due diligence checks have been made and confirm that all major risks have been planned for. Final sign-off for the events was given by the SAG on 31 May 2017.

In this context, no further conditions are considered necessary beyond those set out in the hire agreement and the condition that the hire is subject to the event promoter entering into the hire agreement

In adopting the Policy, the Council established its commitment to using the Park for a limited number of major events each year. Accordingly, the only other alternative option which could be considered would be to reject the application. That option was rejected, on the grounds that the events did not fall within any of the grounds set out in paragraph 5.3 of the Events Policy for automatic refusal.