Agenda and draft minutes

Please note that this meeting may be filmed or recorded by the Council for live or subsequent broadcast via the Council’s internet site or by anyone attending the meeting using any communication method. Although we ask members of the public recording, filming or reporting on the meeting not to include the public seating areas, members of the public attending the meeting should be aware that we cannot guarantee that they will not be filmed or recorded by others attending the meeting. Members of the public participating in the meeting (e.g. making deputations, asking questions, making oral protests) should be aware that they are likely to be filmed, recorded or reported on. By entering the meeting room and using the public seating area, you are consenting to being filmed and to the possible use of those images and sound recordings.

The Chair of the meeting has the discretion to terminate or suspend filming or recording, if in his or her opinion continuation of the filming, recording or reporting would disrupt or prejudice the proceedings, infringe the rights of any individual or may lead to the breach of a legal obligation by the Council.

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

To receive any apologies for absence.

There were no apologies.

There were none.  

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).

There was an issue in the notification system resulting in late notification for some stakeholders of the applications. The Council had since been in contact feedback had been received. In order to consider this, the Chair decided to adjourn the meeting until 9:30am on 20 March 2026.

The meeting adjourned at 1:10pm and reconvened at 9:42am on 20 March 2026.

There were none.

The report sought a determination of a number of applications made by Festival Republic Ltd (the Applicant) to hire Finsbury Park for a period in June/July every year between 2028 and 2032, to stage two consecutive three-day multi-event weekends.

The Cabinet Member for Culture and Leisure was being asked to take the decision in the report as required under the Outdoor Events Policy (the Policy), which was approved by Cabinet on 17th December 2013, and implemented on 7th January 2014.

The applications were required to be determined pursuant to the Council’s Outdoor Events Policy.

The Council received stakeholder feedback from some organisations or groups.

Although feedback had been requested, the Ladder Community Safety Partnership (LCSP), submitted a statement stating that they were unaware of the consultation due to an unfortunate confusion over an email address that had been changed recently. The LCSP felt that it could not provide a response without consulting all its members and felt that therefore the only statements that it could make was that the LCSP could not support or oppose the new contract as members’ opinions could not be accurately reflected. It was important to note that the LCSP was a very important stakeholder group and continuing conversations could be held between all parties in the foreseeable future. When the Council entered into the previous five-year agreement, there were issues around income, contract details and the management plan information. The income generation from the events secured the long-term income for the major events detailed in the report. It paid for staffing and maintenance and the park. All the money raised from events went back into the park. The council could not detail contract negotiations but there were break clauses allowances for the hire fee to increase year on year and council would continue to discuss further details of the event management plan (EMP) with the premises user as well as through the Safety Advisory Group.

A response had been received from Edible Landscapes. This is a community organization based in the park. They referred to their concerns which include amplified music (as they found it hard to run their sessions). There was also a significant increase in footfall during the events and there was concern that certain areas of the premises would be damaged, particularly areas maintained by the organisation. There were also concerns regarding the accumulation of waste.

There were mitigations in place. There were limits on the noise and the 50,000 patrons attending the events would be contained within the event site. There would be security and stewards guiding patrons onto the event site and away from other areas to minimise the effect on the premises. Collection and removal of waste and litter was detailed in the EMP and work would be done with the applicant to amend the EMP where required.

The Council had considered the balance between the applicant, patrons of the park and the income generation and cultural activity applicants provided to local residents. The Council worked with the premises  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6.

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) and information in respect of which a claim to legal professional privilege could be maintained in legal proceedings.

Item 8 was subject to a motion to exclude the press and public 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) and information in respect of which a claim to legal professional privilege could be maintained in legal proceedings.

The Cabinet Member considered the exempt information.