Leazes Park is the next location in line to be hit by a festival crackdown as part of a war on noise in Newcastle.
Council bosses have recently imposed tough new limits on events in Exhibition Park after complaints that the city’s green spaces were being turned into “outdoor nightclubs” for big concerts like This Is Tomorrow, while similar action has been promised ahead of the huge LooseFest on the Town Moor this summer. A ruling is now set to be made next week that could see restrictions imposed on Leazes Park, which has played host to music festivals like Noughty 90s and Lost Minds.
Urban Green Newcastle, the charity which runs the city’s parks, will come before councillors once again next week in a bid to secure a new alcohol and events licence. Bosses’ last appearance before Newcastle City Council’s licensing sub-committee became a drawn-out and often fractious affair, with clashes over “horrendous” nuisance suffered by Exhibition Park’s neighbours in Jesmond.
Read More: Noise clampdown promise as Newcastle's Town Moor prepares to welcome 60,000 people for LooseFest
It ultimately resulted in new maximum noise levels being imposed and further limits on how many events can be held each year, despite protestations that doing so would risk making it impossible to stage concerts and cut off a vital source of funding needed to keep parks looking their best.
Ahead of next Thursday’s Leazes Park hearing, environmental health chiefs at the civic centre have proposed a similar set of measures in order to protect residents around Spital Tongues and Barrack Road. They include capping festivals with a capacity of more than 500 people at just six days per year, while Urban Green has revised down its original ask to instead request six days of “high impact” events with 5,000 or more attendees.
Like in Exhibition Park, it is proposed to impose a maximum noise limit and to ask for 180 days’ notice of events being held. Events would be required to finish at 10.30pm and have all revellers dispersed within half an hour. Four local residents have opposed Urban Green’s plans, with one warning it would create "undue noise for the local residential community" and fearing that patrons are likely to keep creating "wholly unacceptable" nuisance after festivals close.
Monument ward councillor Teresa Cairns has also objected to the proposal, warning that festivals cut off access to parks for local people and that the resulting rubbish attracts rats and seagulls. Her Labour colleague Jane Byrne said of Urban Green that she remains “concerned about their ability to ensure that the conditions are enforced given the problems caused by previous events held since they took over the parks”.
She added: “I also think that they do not fully appreciate the public nuisance aspect of the environmental damage done to parks by events. It impacts on people's safe enjoyment of the park and damages a valuable environmental asset.”
The charity’s application states that all income from events would be reinvested back into the city’s green spaces and that its aim was to "secure the future of these assets and to provide safe, clean and well-maintained parks and allotments".
Jon Riley, acting chief executive of Urban Green Newcastle, said: "Urban Green Newcastle will be presenting its case to deliver a range of exciting and varied cultural events throughout the year, giving local communities and visitors to the city the opportunity to visit and enjoy this amazing green space in the heart of Newcastle.
"We’ll also have the opportunity to listen to any representations lodged by Newcastle City Council, local MPs, and members of the public. Urban Green Newcastle has already completed a consultation to hear people’s views and concerns ahead of the meeting."
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