Agenda item

Discussion paper (Adam Reynolds, Green Space Manager and Ian George, Director of Festivals – Cheltenham Festivals)

The committee were advised that Ian George, Director of Festivals at Cheltenham Festivals was not able to attend as the meeting had not been formally scheduled in his diary; and given the start of the science festival that day was unable to attend.  Officers would provide him with notes on the discussion and ask that responses be forwarded to the committee, as necessary.  

Adam Reynolds, the Green Space Manager, advised members that a number of complaints had been received during set-up of the 2019 Jazz Festival.  The complaints centred on the construction space that had been fenced off from the public, which was effectively the entire arboretum and parts of the Broad Walk.  He explained that this went against a long established protocol and land agreement between Cheltenham Festivals (CF) and Cheltenham Borough Council (CBC) and therefore, as soon as it was bought to the attention of CBC, CF were asked to reduce fencing immediately.  However, with construction already underway, CF felt that this would compromise the safety of the site and as such CBC agreed, albeit reluctantly, for some fencing to remain for the remainder of the construction period.  CF also committed to returning the arboretum area to public use within two days of the end of the festival, which it did.  It was noted at this point that CF were delivering a new layout, having redesigned the Jazz village, following feedback from the Gardens’ Forum. 

The committee were informed that a meeting had been scheduled with CF (18/06) to formally review and address this issue and emphasise the need to preserve areas for public recreation in future years, as set-out in the protocol.  In addition to this, Officers would take the opportunity to raise the issue of construction dates, with a request that in future, bank holidays be avoided wherever possible, and; the need to improved communication to local residents and park users about access during construction. 

The Green Space Manager gave the following responses to member questions:

·         CBC staff routinely undertook site visits but he accepted the suggestion that perhaps someone should be there immediately prior to construction commencing.

·         In previous years this event had been covered by the license held by CBC, but given the scale of the event, this year, CF had applied for and been granted a license, encompassing the entire site and all activities. 

·         Fencing off public access was contrary to the spirit of the 2013 planning consent and was not permitted under the terms of the land use agreement between CBC and CF, but Officers were confident that mechanisms could be put in place which would ensure that the risk of similar issues arising in the future were minimised.  

·         It was suggested that replacing the reverse beeper with a white sound reverse alarm was easily achievable and would go some way to reducing some of the disturbance experienced by residents.  This had already been raised with CF for consideration, as well as with the organisers of the Food Festival.

·         There had indeed been instances of noise levels spiking during the course of the 2019 festival, which some could argue was inevitable.  Therefore, the issue was rather how CF had dealt with these instances and how quickly and the Gardens’ Forum would be considering a full report on this issue when they next met.  It was noted that Environmental Health were keen to add to the land agreement that CBC and CF had in place.   

The Chairman joined members in commending the Green Space Manager for the paper that he had produced and thanked him for his attendance.

The Chairman took the opportunity to raise the issue of events, which had been touched on at the last meeting and suggested that the committee may wish to formally agree to establish a task group.  In his mind there would be three strands: the Jazz Festival; how are resident’s made aware of upcoming events in their area, and; review of the council’s strategy for increased commercialisation of the parks.

Councillor Parsons felt that a fourth strand of any review should relate to member involvement and expressed his wish to be involved in any such task group. 

The Planning Director advised the committee that an Events Manager, Jessica Goodwin, had recently been appointed and tasked taking an Events Strategy to Cabinet.  She suggested that should a scrutiny task group be set up, this could inform this work.

Members agreed that the main issues in terms of events were those that did not require planning or licensing and were therefore held under a land use agreement, which often left ward councillors and residents with little or no advance notice.

The Democracy Officer would meet with relevant officers, as well as the Chairman to discuss the proposal further, and aim to table something with the committee for consideration at the next meeting (1 July).