Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!
FIVE more years of Events in Finsbury Park?
HARINGEY Council prepares to commit to another 5-year
commercial exploitation deal for Events in Finsbury Park:
—————————————————————————————
At the Cabinet Member Signing at 1PM this Thursday, Cabinet Member Arkell or a substitute will lock the council into another half-decade deal with Festival Republic, the UK subsidiary of US giant global live-music monopoly, Live Nation.
The public are not ordinarily allowed into these little meetings, but at Agenda item seven, this is a specific exclusion (link above):
"Exclusion of Press & Public"
Just before item eight:
This EXEMPT item may discuss how the council will deal with the recent ruling in the High Court case involving Brockwell Park and how they will get around it.
For 11 years, intense and damaging commercial exploitation of Finsbury Park has been council Majority Group policy.
Tags for Forum Posts: 5 years, Cllr Ahmet, Cllr Arkell, Events Team, Festival Republic, Finsbury Park, Grime, Haringey Council, Live Nation, commercial, More…
Replies to This Discussion
-
Permalink Reply by Simon
-
If the current deal has a reasonable amount of time to run there is no reason to take such early action. I have never trusted this council to act in the interests of ordinary people who want to use the whole park throughout the summer without being fenced out in the interests of commercial promoters. I would love to see the whole process carefully examined by an independent external body with access to all the paperwork etc.
-
Permalink Reply by Clive Carter
-
there is no reason to take such early action.
There is no reason to do this from a good governance and democracy-respectful point of view.
The reason—from the POV of the council Events Team (with or without Leader endorsement)—is to legally bind the next two Administrations, i.e. up to and past the election in 2030. i.e. for the next seven summers.
-
Permalink Reply by Alan Stanton
-
Was the proposal sent or was it NOT sent to the consultees? It should be easy enough for some Senior Council officer representing the Chief Executive to check.
If it was sent to all of them, and nobody replied, why didn't this alert somebody to a possible glitch or flaw? At minimum it surely should have led to someone being concerned.
Did an officer (member of Haringey staff) insist on the internet App being used to reply?
If that's what happened by what authority did that person stipulate such a narrow restriction?
- a single way to respond to such a sensitive Public Consultation?Personally if I was wanting to get many responses that showed a reasonably wide public consultation I'd be chasing people to reply.
Though to be fair, if I had somebody restrict my form of reply, I'd ignore their restriction.
I'd phone and use my old=fashioned human voice-noises - It used to be known as talking or speech - to check that they'd still count my answers.Also to be fair, I might also ignore them if I believed they would take no notice of my views.
To be fairer I confess that I recently received a tickbox survey which was so badly drafted that I couldn't think of a way to answer it with any degree of intelligent reply. It was from a voluntary agency which I respect.OK Now back to the simple basic issue.
Labour councillors this is an own goal !Even if I agreed that it was regretfully necessary to take money from Live Nation for these events. it appears unnecessary to agree a contract On Thursday.
And doubly unnecessary to agree a contract that seeks to bind the new elected Council AND the next elected Council after that. That's at least two own goals.
If the glitzy glamour of Live Nation Corporation is so compelling then, Councillors, please apply to work for them.I'm an old man now and still have the quaint old fashioned idea that our borough Council is supposed to work for the people of Haringey.
I have the strange last ventury notion that a park is a park with stuff like live vegetation and seats and grass free to stroll and sit on. Pathetic and out of date, I realise.
-
-
I seem to remember the Events Team use something called The Event App (not "Internet App"). Did this glitch?
Such a ploy appears artfully intended to block, narrow or frustrate any responses in any event. Where is the record of previous comments?
The background is that the council (which means the Events Team) literally have no interest in external opinions on big cash deals.
There is no reason to suppose that any notice would be taken of any responses, even one had got through. Apparently none did.
Meanwhile, the local authority's event-app consultation is passed off as a genuine attempt to solicit "stakeholder" views yet with no responses.
If employees' jobs depend on making a recommendation to go ahead with a huge commercial contract, then they are unlikely to recommend otherwise.
-
-
Cpuncillor Peray Ahmet and her officials should know perfectly well what a genuine public consultation looks and sounds like.
It's not a bungled scramble on the last day before the coming election prevents a big contract deal.I have a dim memory that Cllr Ahmet was once a Trade Union representative. In an echo of an old rhyme: something red; something new.
What is programmed to happen tomorrow looks and sounds very like something old something blue. In other words continuing Tory-style privatisation of a large public park.I have been a Socialist since my teens. I too was once a Trade Union rep. I would like to believe that Cllr Ahmet and her Labour colleagues would prefer to reduce or at least minimise private sector involvement in our public services.
But what we are apparently witnessing is a frantic dash to give a fresh contract to a huge U.S. owned monopolistic Corporation. Long before the existing contract has come to an end.
And with no concern nor respect paid to democratic local elections.
-
-
LIKE other councils, Haringey performs lots of consultations. A small—possibly tiny—proportion of their consultations are genuine and sincere efforts to solicit residents' opinions.
Some are "public" consultations that must meet legal standards. Many consultations undertaken by the council are performed because they are obliged to and it can look good, especially at a later date.
———
While the January Event Team consultation may have been seriously flawed, it is important to recognise the fundamental underlying factor: that Events Team are deeply uninterested in anything other than supportive remarks. Their jobs depend on their clients' gigs going ahead.
The Events Team discharge long established Majority Group policy for park-hire. The Events Team are the link between the council and the global live-music monopolist. I understand that park hire receipts are received, handled and disbursed by the Events Team.
-
Permalink Reply by Giovanna iozzi
-
Hi, this is appalling, do read Bethany Anderson's letter to the council which has already been sent to press.
This Thursday (19th March) Haringey council plans to quietly sign away our summers in Finsbury Park for another 5-year Live Nation deal. With little to no consultation to key stakeholders.We think it's an affront to democracy.Please read our complaints letter to Haringey Council.RegardsBethany Anderson and Gio IozziGreen Party CandidatesStroud Green WardTo_%20Cllr%20Emily%20Arkell%2C%20Cabinet%20Member%20for%20Culture%2...
-
-
Hi Giovanna,
It would appear that there is some glitch which prevented the consultation documents arriving in mailboxes of all or most of the consultees.
The bureaucrats and leader-followers may now argue that the resulting silence must be taken as full consent. This is how the tidy, fearful obedient minds of bureaucrats see the world. They will agree on this with those who are themselves authoritarians and long to serve and eventually be powerful leaders.
They will overlap with some others who prefer the simpler life of obeying orders. rather then thinking for themselves.
Like Donald Trump, hearing that Keir Starmer wants to consult his team, the Leader-Leader-did-I-mention-Leader, sees consultation as a mark of weakness.Will this Finsbury Park privatisation consultation now be rescheduled and run properly? As if the views of the consultees are valuable? I hope so.
There is no reason why not.On the contrary, there are excellent democratic reasons for the decision to be made under the newly elected Council. Including at least a precious few fresh-thinking new councillors who haven't yet settled into obeying the Leader-Leader-did-I-mention Leader? (Chief Whip, take their name !)
I have several more suggestions for the new Council. Here are two to be going on with.
(1) Set up a mailbox chain among all the voluntary organisations in Finsbury Park to share information among yourselves. It could limit the extent to which the Council may use information to divide and rule.
(2) Insist on joint-chairing of Voluntary/Council bodies. Try to choose co-chairs who don't favour the rigid closed bully bureaucrat mentality.
-
Permalink Reply by Jamie Harper
-
But what of those who were aware of the council's intention? What were or are their views?
It is noted how silent the councillors representing Harringay Ward (and therefore, Finsbury Park) have been on this... at least publicly.
-
-
ALAN, what you say makes sense.
By contrast, the current leader wants the deal to go ahead. Cllr Ahmet is soon to become a candidate in Noel Park Ward, but for years has advocated Events & supported "Grime".
Above: it looks like a family photo but in fact it's the promoter with the council leader (right), taken at the 2023 Event in FP – Picture credit: Haringey Council photographer; published by their busy PR team
The leader, the Cab member for Culture, plus the Events Team are likely all to be pressing hard for the deal to go through. The council could hardly be more cosy with the mega-rich, prosecuted, global live-music monopolist.
- The monopolist's enormous events are a Licensable activity
- Haringey Council is a Licensing Authority
- The council awards licences to … their corporate customer
-
-
Giovanna P.S.
I'm thinking back to when I was first elected and we had some training sessions from the Borough Solicitor. A very knowledgeable and insightful woman. (Also with an Italian name.)
She mentioned how Local Councils most feared Private Eye's Rotten Boroughs page.Which prompted my thinking back even more years ago when I worked in Harlesden NW10.
For a few long minutes I shared an old van with some friends in a very slowly moving traffic queue. As we inched forward we saw a young man step from a shop onto the pavement right alongside our van. He was closely reading the latest Private Eye. Enraptured and chortling; and without noticing us enjoying his pleasure and sudden huge burst of his laughter.Was it Rotten Boroughs? If Peray Ahmet has unwisely pressed ahead today with this absurd and undemocratic decision, will there be a titter? Or a chuckle? Or maybe it deserves a full gale of laughter?
-
-
PRIVATE EYE: how many more entries?
I understand that a letter (this one?) about Haringey Council's current conduct has already been sent in to The Eye.
Depending on their behaviour in the next few days, that letter may be followed by others.
In the last 12 months, the council lead by Peray Ahmet has featured at least twice.
Links: Most Rotten ~ Care Bare
In the run-up to the election, how many more appearances by Haringey in The Eye's Rotten Boroughs column, is Peray Ahmet prepared to risk?
———
PS. I understand the "Signing" ceremony has been "postponed" until 9:30 tomorrow morning.
This may give a chance for The Events Team to contact as many "Stakeholders" as possible: asking, cajoling or pleading for some kind of response, anything at all, in order to try to make up some numbers for their seriously flawed and possibly unlawful "consultation".
My suggestion is that, if any Stakeholder consultee receives an unsolicited and unexpected call from anyone claiming to be from an "Events Team", then the safest thing to do would be decline to provide any statement. In any event, there would not have been sufficient notice.
- ‹ Previous
- 1
- 2
- 3
- Next ›
© 2026 Created by Hugh.
Powered by
