RESOLVED:  That Councillor David Simpson be appointed Chair of the meeting.

There were no apologies for absence.

There were no declarations of interest.

The Chair opened the meeting and outlined the procedure to be followed during the meeting as detailed in the main agenda pack.

The Applicant’s Barrister, Michael Bromley-Martin stated that:

-        The first application for this event in this location had been in 2017 when the event was for one day. This application received a number of representations from Responsible Authorities. However the Premises Licence was granted with a capacity of 17,000 persons. It was the applicant’s view that the 2017 event was a success.

-        The second application for this event in the location was granted in 2018. It was accepted that the 2018 event had seen considerable difficulties. The event was two days with a capacity of 19,999 on both days.

-        Although the Applicant accepted that the 2018 event had not been a success, in terms of the number of complaints and issues that arose, this was despite no breaches of any of the licence conditions having occurred.

-        There had been extraordinary co-operation and consultation with the Responsible Authorities and the application submitted at the end of 2018, which was considered at this hearing, had been subsequently amended as a result of this. The Responsible Authorities are content with the application in its amended form.

-        A number of conditions have now been offered to deal with the three aspects of noise, security and litter/sanitation that were principle issues in 2018, as well as other aspects of concern.

o    Noise: whilst it was accepted that the noise limits in 2018 had been fully complied with, it was felt that those limits were too high and had therefore been reduced for this application. These limits were now the lowest of any comparable festival and were below the “Pop Guide” (“Guidance on the Control of Environmental Music Noise and its Impact on Communities Close to the Events” provided in the Noise Council Code of Practice on Environmental Noise at Concerts 1995 Chartered Institute of Environmental Health) levels although that Guide is now withdrawn and was only an unofficial guide of EHOs and acoustic specialists.

o    Security and Stewarding: the security would now be split between two companies – one for the inside of the event and one for outside the event. This had been agreed with the SAG (Safety Advisory Group). Within that was a commitment to provide wrap around security and provide security at all transport points i.e. tube, rail stations.

o    Litter and Sanitation: all the conditions had been complied with in 2018. However, it was clear that more toilets were required. This had been reassessed by the applicant and this would be split between two companies one for the interior and one for the exterior of the event.

o    In respect to the offered condition relating to ID scanning, the Metropolitan Police were happy that not all persons should be scanned and the condition would be removed.

-        The Applicant was not complacent and still conscious of the potential for disturbance. The applicant believed  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.