Agenda and draft minutes

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The Chair referred to the notice of filming at meetings and this information was noted.

To receive any apologies for absence.

There were no apologies for absence.

The Chair will consider the admission of any late items of Urgent Business.

(Late items of Urgent Business will be considered under the agenda item

where they appear. New items of Urgent Business will be dealt with under

agenda item 9).

There were no items of urgent business.

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(i) must disclose the interest at the start of the meeting or when the interest becomes apparent, and

(ii) may not participate in any discussion or vote on the matter and must withdraw from the meeting room.

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There were no declarations of interest.

To consider any requests received in accordance with Part 4, Section B,

paragraph 29 of the Council’s constitution.

There were no deputation / petitions / questions.

RESOLVED:

The Cabinet Member for Culture, Communities and Leisure was recommended to:

1.    Authorise the Director of Environment and Resident Experience to approve conditional, in-principle agreement to hire Finsbury Park and Ducketts Common to the Applicant (for the events detailed in this report as set out in paragraph 6.5).

2.    To agree the park hire terms and conditions to hire Finsbury Park to the Applicant (for the events detailed in this report as set out in paragraph 6.5) provided that the Director of Environment and Resident Experience was satisfied with the terms of any proposed agreements and permissions.

Reasons for decision

Under the terms of the Policy, applications of the type detailed in this report were required to be determined with the prior agreement of the Cabinet Member. It was considered that this decision was non-key because it was (a) not likely to result in the local authority incurring expenditure which was, or the making of savings which were, significant having regard to the local authority’s budget for the service or function to which the decision relates; or (b) to be significant in terms of its effects on communities living or working in an area comprising two or more wards or electoral divisions in the area of the local authority. 

With respect to (b) the impact of the proposed decision on communities was not considered to be significant because the area does not comprise an area of two or more wards. Whilst some Finsbury Park events sometimes receive strong local feeling from a section of the community, there was active engagement and opportunity for stakeholders to feedback. Also, any impacts of the events were not significant and have no lasting effect given the short duration of the events during the year. It was worth noting that no feedback was received during the recognised stakeholder notification period.

If authority was given, then officers would give in-principle agreement to the Applicant for the event applications to progress. The events were subject to discussions with relevant authorities – including the Police - before final agreement was given.

The rejection of the applications would have implications for the Parks & Leisure Service budget and reduce the opportunity for reinvestment into Finsbury Park and Ducketts Common. It would also mean that the wider cultural and economic benefits to the borough were lost.

Alternative options considered.

In adopting the Policy, the Council established its commitment to using parks for a limited number of funfairs and circuses each year. Accordingly, the only other alternative option which could be considered would be to reject the applications. 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 Policy for automatic refusal.

Item 8 is likely to be subject to a motion to exclude the press and public be from the meeting as it contains exempt information as defined in Section 100a of the Local Government Act 1972 (as amended by Section 12A of the Local Government Act 1985); paras 3 and 5, namely information relating to the financial or business affairs of any particular person (including the authority holding that information).

Item 6 was subject to a motion to exclude the press and public be from the meeting as  they contain exempt information as defined in Section 100a of the Local Government  Act 1972 (as amended by Section 12A of the Local Government Act 1985); paras 3  and 5, namely information relating to the financial or business affairs of any particular  person (including the authority holding that information) and information in respect of  which a claim to legal professional privilege could be maintained in legal proceedings.

RESOLVED:

The Chair considered the exempt information.

There were no new items of urgent business.