Four festival-size events could be held in Newcastle’s Exhibition Park every year, but locals have pleaded for no repeats of the “horrendous” disturbance they suffered during the This Is Tomorrow concerts last year.
Charity bosses at Urban Green Newcastle have previously come under fire from residents and councillors for the nuisance caused by a series of rowdy music festivals organised since it was handed control of the city’s parks in 2019, which have prompted complaints of green spaces being turned into “outdoor nightclubs”. The non-profit organisation is now in a battle with authorities as it bids for a new licence to stage events and sell alcohol from Exhibition Park.
Urban Green’s plans, which came before a committee of councillors at a lengthy hearing on Wednesday, would allow for 20 events per year with between 500 and 15,000 attendees – with only four of those to be ‘high impact’ occasions with in excess of 5,000 punters, lasting no more than three days each. The charity’s representatives told Newcastle City Council’s licensing sub-committee that those major, money-spinning events were essential to generate income that can be put back into the upkeep of the 33 parks it manages and to fund smaller, community-focused activities that “simply won’t take place” otherwise.
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But environmental health chiefs at the council have called for strict controls to be imposed in order to avoid locals in Jesmond being exposed to the same noise disturbance that prompted more than 90 complaints during the This is Tomorrow festival last September. Ed Foster, the council’s head of public safety and regulation, admitted that event “did not go well” and proposed a series of tougher conditions to be put on any new Exhibition Park licence – including a nine-day annual limit on large events rather than 12, a requirement to give 180 days’ notice rather than 90, a bespoke noise impact being done for each event, and a ban on any being held before a weekday in order not to disturb children’s sleep on school nights.
Crucially, local authority noise chiefs also want a restriction limiting music noise from large events at the park to no more than five decibels above background levels – something which Urban Green’s barrister Duncan Craig warned will mean no concerts could possibly be held. Mr Craig said that a limit of 10 decibels above background levels must be allowed and also warned that banning events on a Sunday would spell doom for popular fixtures in the city calendar such as Pride and the Newcastle Mela.
Jesmond Labour councillor Felicity Mendelson described the This is Tomorrow event last year as “horrendous”, after the committee heard it was particularly bad as restrictions in the park on the Great North Run weekend prior meant the stage was placed close to and facing homes in Brandling Village. Coun Mendelson added that four events a year of that size would “not be acceptable”, saying: “I would like to think it was possible to have events of a large nature on Exhibition Park that do not impact residents.”
Local resident David Allen insisted it was possible to host a large-scale concert without causing major problems – telling the committee that noise levels had been successfully brought down during the festival last September, following the complaints, but that Urban Green’s proposed 10 decibel leeway was “wholly unacceptable”. Mr Foster said that the council was “absolutely committed to supporting Urban Green” but that it needed a “recognisable standard to show residents that we do care and we are supporting them”.
More than 30 residents had opposed Urban Green’s application, though many of their concerns focused on the prospect of Brandling Park also being included in the events area – an idea Urban Green dropped after the backlash, something Mr Craig said showed they were “reasonable people” willing to work with neighbours. John Riley, operations director Urban Green, said the charity had to “think creatively” in order to attract funding.
The charity is currently able to hold events in Exhibition Park under an existing licence in the city council’s name, which it must request permission to use, and Mr Craig said that wider, more enforceable conditions on the new application were a “huge leap forward” from that in terms of protecting residents’ amenity. It would allow for the sale of alcohol and provision of activities including live music and film screenings until 10.30pm.
But Leo Charalambides, representing objector Charles Holland, called Urban Green’s plans “exceptionally disappointing” and told the committee that the need for the charity to generate income was not a relevant factor in determining the application. The council is due to issue a decision within five working days, while a similar application for Leazes Park had to be deferred after the exhaustive first hearing overran.
