Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!
Finsbury Park festivals
Hello.
Did you all get the what’s on Finsbury Park booklet throigh
the door at the weekend ?
I am confused ,
on the back page there was a diary of events for the coming year
It stated above that agreed by residents (I have no memory of being asked ) it is allowed to have up to 5 large festival events with up to 30K attending a year
then goes on to tel us of several events of which at least 6/7 seem to be full on festivals going on this year ?
I am not sure and wondered if anyone else has noticed the same ?
This bothers me for many reasons as Finsbury Park is at the end ofour Road and not wanting
to be a total fun sponge massive events Like Wireless In my opinion really should be in a field in the middle of nowhere , the noise being the least of the problems , not being able to get out of
our Road or park and traffic, and having young kids, hearing the artists swearing over the mike all over the Haringay skies isn’t my favourite bit .
It Seems the boundaries are being stretched more and more every year .
Are they going too far now ?
What are other people’s thoughts on the amount it’s beomg used ?
Thanks
Tags for Forum Posts: finsbury park, finsbury park events
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Madeline on
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http://www.haringey.gov.uk/libraries-sport-and-leisure/parks-and-op...
Looking at that list above it appears that the majority of green space, ie, the festival site, will only be available until the middle of May then only 2-3 days before the next one moves in in June. After that one we'll have 6 days before the next one moves in for the grand total of 14 weeks of back to back partial park closure that ends in September.
So no room for Mums, Dads Grannies, kids, pets and picnics. Just trucks, fences, crowds and noise and at the end of it all we're left with a bald desert where once there was grass. OK, it'll grow back again... eventually, just it time for them to trample it all down again next year.
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Permalink Reply by DTW on
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I mean this is just a rant. An illustrative of the mind set of those that oppose local young people having a good time.
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Local? Only a very small majority of ticket holders are local. The rest of us, (locals) don't need tickets, it's forced on us whether we like it or not.
And you condone that the majority of the green space in the park should be closed to the public for almost the entire school summer holiday?
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I'll post this again as you obviously didn't look at it:-
http://www.haringey.gov.uk/libraries-sport-and-leisure/parks-and-op...
Note the times the event site is in use or closed off to the public during set-up and take-down.
As for the ticket holders, nobody will convince me that only local people are going to these concerts.
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It's nothing like that. I think the point I and Tina are making is that it's getting too big and too often. The park, as I see it now, is a commercial premise for most of the summer. A lot of the green space is out of bounds, I have to buy permits if someone wants to visit me, my local pub is packed and often overwhelmed so it too has become uncomfortable place to be. plus there's the element of undesirables roaming around preying on the crowds. Yes, I know that happens all over the place but this is a residential street and I find myself staring at my CCTV watching for any misdemeanors I might see (and I often do) that will affect me and my neighbours.
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Permalink Reply by EG Timlin on
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Nick Michael, you refer to local residents being subjected to a 'little inconvenience'. It's a lot more than that.
ANTI-SOCIAL BEHAVIOUR. We know that most festival-goers are there to enjoy themselves and that's great. But trouble inevitably follows such large-scale events – especially Wireless! That’s one of the reasons why there is security and, as with football crowds, police are paid to attend. Recently, after persistent and bitter complaints from Brownswood Ward residents about the awful ASB we suffered in and around our homes last year, Wireless promoter, Melvyn Benn, offered an extra 40 security staff: that is 100 instead of 60. So, with a capacity crowd of 45,000, that's a ratio of 450 to 1, how likely is it that a member of security on minimum wage and on zero-hours contract would intervene in an aggressive fracas? On my way home last year, I witnessed security staff turning their backs on trouble because it was across the street from the park – and, with knives and other weapons a factor, who can blame them?
In previous years, festivals in the park had crowd capacities of 15K. A manageable size both with crowds and noise levels.
Now Haringey Council gives a licence for festivals marketed to crowds of between 30k - 45K. This has led to some really nasty ASB. It chiefly emanates from the drug-dealing parasites who hide in the residential streets and dark corners near the park. This means that to get home, locals have to navigate drug deals; we are confronted by the drug dealers’ customers who may be experiencing a high; we are exposed to intimidating behaviour from the dealers and their cohort, who park up outside our homes and deal openly from their cars.
Each night, while the main roads are swept up, we in the residential streets have to pick our way through drug paraphernalia. The few portable toilets provided last year on the side streets, were seemingly not close enough for those plying their trade on our streets, so our gardens were used as public conveniences – the morning aroma of urine is deeply unpleasant. I opened my front door to a swarm of flies rising up from a pile of human excrement on our doorstep! Police are too stretched to handle it and some, who were paid to deal with trouble from the festival last year, turned a blind eye to anything outside the festival. We are victims of this trouble and it stems from the inability to cope with such a large-scale event with people's homes nearby.
Yes, people have the right to enjoy themselves. I would ask that there are lots of large spaces away from peoples' homes, where music festivals can be enjoyed. I went to loads of them. Festivals in urban community parks need to be scaled down so that they can be better managed and the impact on families and individuals living in the area is minimised. Haringey and the promoters don't need to be so greedy.
NOISE: the bass volume literally shakes the ground; vibrations can be felt as well as heard several streets away. Performers rev up the crowds to frenzy levels where the jumping and cheering would be fine in a field somewhere in the country. This is a residential area. People live here. Many older people and those with mobility issues are often trapped in their homes. It's too expensive to take a whole family out for 3 or 4 days to escape. I resent having to evacuate my home each time. With sound checks starting at 10am, night workers have no respite. And when the music stops the noise from helicopters circling ensures there is no sleep for anyone in the area, often until 1 or 2 in the morning.
MONEY TALKS! And this is big money for the promoters. We still don't know how much Haringey reaps and despite their being served with a FOI order last year, HC has still not produced the accounts. Where is the money going? We in Hackney derive no benefit.
POWERLESSNESS: is it a coincidence that hostels run by Hackney Council, and the density of HMOs are increasing along Seven Sisters Road? One hostel recently applied for an extension of planning permission for an occupancy of 352. It seems that people in HMOs often privately rent during the week and then spend their weekends at their homes outside London. Hostels provide much-needed accommodation for individuals and families in need. Accommodation for vulnerable people is proliferating just opposite where the main stage is built and those huge walls are erected. And it is here too that much of the worst of the noise from the music and the crowds is experienced. Haringey refuses to make changes. At a meeting recently, we were virtually shown 'the hand'! The message being sent to us locals is that we are people of no consequence.
ACTION? Anyone want to start a pressure group?
There is absolutely no way this scale of event would be tolerated in Hampstead Heath - a much, much larger green space than little Finsbury Park! Why? Hampstead residents have clout and connections in high places. They even had the Kenwood classical concerts, attended by champagne-drinking picnickers shut down! (Please imagine my bitter bark of laughter). It is galling to for us local people to be dismissed as NIMBYs and moaners by those who live nowhere near Finsbury Park, or who are well enough off to go away during the worst of it.
What can we do to get Haringey Council to listen to us? What would you ask?
I would ask them to:
- reduce the scale to maximum capacity 15k.
- reduce the number of events per year.
- stop fencing off the park for the entire summer months.
- allow/encourage more community-led events that benefit the whole community
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Permalink Reply by John D on
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DTW. There's no need to be insulting just because you don't agree with other people's opinions.
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I'm well aware of all that and I realise that a lot of businesses enjoy the influx of new customers. But the thing is my whole summer is affected by these concerts. I can't go out so I have to stay in and suffer all the noise. Why must it be all summer?
I've just had my dinner in the kitchen, looking out at the park. The fair is there at the moment, a family occasion mostly. (but still with undesirables) and that generates noise and crowds but nowhere near the amount we have per concert. Also they only visit for two or three weeks a year so is easily tolerated. But I would also be complaining if it was there every week throughout the summer. There is just too many of these concerts to be comfortable. As I said, when I first moved here 40+ years ago there were none. Then they started creeping in, one or two at a time but they were a lot smaller then and could still be tolerated. But they've got bigger and louder and more often. As for the permits, why should I have to pay for a problem generated by 'them'? They have had a significant impact on my life here, my quality of life and I'm not in a health or financial position to do anything about it. I don't want them stopped entirely but one, two maybe three a year are quite sufficient and would allow local residents of Haringey, Hackney and Islington at least a chance of using the park as a green space, what it was designed for.
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GREEN SPACES, especially in inner city areas, are there for public enjoyment, and the health benefits to the community. It seems that Haringey Council are yet to be persuaded of the greater returns of social capital. Instead, they milk our local park as a cash cow. If, like most councils, Haringey is under financial pressure, why did they vote against raising council tax? Spread the love Haringey! How about making up your shortfall through a small rise in CT instead of through myopic strategies using short-termism such as selling off public assets, or by commercialising community space? Please save Finsbury Park as a public amenity for enjoyment by all!
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Permalink Reply by Michael Anderson on
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A rise in council tax above a certain level requires a local referendum. Only one has ever been held (in Bedfordshire). 70% voted against it and it cost £700,000 which had to come out of council funds leaving the authority with even less money to spend.
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