Lovebox Organisers Issue Apology to Local Residents
Festival problems caused by 'complacent overconfidence, inexperience, incompetence'
Two packed recent meetings about the recent festivals in Gunnersbury Park heard the organisers admit to a string of failures which caused unnecessary problems for residents.
The meetings were held in the newly refurbished Rothschild Room in the Gunnersbury Museum and such was the interest not all those wishing to attend could be accommodated.
Prior to the event the organisers had assured residents at a consultation meeting that they were very experienced at putting on this type of event and they had done so with great success many times before. At this meeting they admitted to a number of unanticipated issues and apologised but said that the experiences would help them make future festivals run more smoothly. A report of the meeting made by the Friends of Gunnersbury Park pointed out that they had been running Lovebox for 12 years in East London and residents’ complaints did not diminish over that time which undermined their claim that the original festival was running like clockwork.
Residents at the meeting raise points about poor stewarding, errors in information about road closures, safety issues from serious overcrowding at Acton Town, the time taken to clear up litter, problems cause by taxis waiting in nearby streets and queues of cars of parents dropping off children at the event leading to major tailbacks on surrounding roads. In addition the levels of communication with the public were criticised.
Although there was support in the room for the idea of a festival at the park most of those who spoke relayed a string of problems that they had experienced while the events were taking place. Noise emanating from the park long after then event was supposed to have finished, numerous incidents of public urination and businesses who were unable to trade.
The organisers said that there had been only 36 noise complaints over the three days and that there had been no breaches of noise regulations. This was met with widespread scepticism in the room. It was pointed out that the map of where the complaints came from showed how wide the area that had been effected and that many people had been unable to get through to the phone number given out for those wishing to make a complaint.
The Friends of Gunnersbury Park report states, “The elephant in the room was the size of the event. These festivals were devised in rural landscapes, farms and stately homes. They have been transplanted into urban parks surrounded by suburban streets, but the programmes and the business plans have stayed much the same. The event went reasonably well inside the park, so the issue, as the organisers see it, is how to fix things to reduce disruption to the locals to tolerable levels. There is a case for wanting more imaginative, more appropriately designed events which entertain without imposing such local burdens. For example, at the earlier meeting we were promised that the 40,000 would come and go throughout the day – it would not be a mass exodus at the end. Yet by closing ancillary stages and ending with the headline acts, the organisers effectively created that mass exodus.”
The Lovebox organisers made it clear they wish to repeat the event next year but David Bowler the CEO of the Community Interest Company which runs the park said the board had not discussed its return.
There was loud applause when Cllr Mel Collins noted that the abolition of the Gunnersbury Park Joint Advisory Panel meant there was no public scrutiny of the decisions of the CIC by external interested parties, such as ward councillors, nor any chance to influence its decisions. David Bowler disputed this saying that the CIC was closely scrutinised by the two Councils.
The Friends of Gunnersbury Park believe that a return of the festivals is almost inevitable given the numbers that turned out this time and the CIC’s need for money. They questioned the independence of the CIC and said that even if they wished not to host the festivals again, Hounslow and Ealing Council would instruct them to do so. Similarly they may not be allowed to make their own decision on the plan for Go Ape to take over part of the park,
In their report on the meeting the Friends of Gunnersbury Park say, “Senior politicians and officers in both councils appear to have leapt at the chance to bring Lovebox to Gunnersbury, especially because of the income it brought. The mishandling of the establishing of an events licence for the park and fear of a large programme of major events had made local people very apprehensive before the news of the festival emerged. The CIC – needing to establish itself with the public – was dealt a poor hand, especially as the building work for the Sports Hub has cut off even larger areas of the park.
“The people at this public meeting were not nimbys or troublemakers – many of them had had a very rough time, caused by complacent overconfidence, inexperience, incompetence and probably an unwillingness to properly invest in managing the event outside the park. The issue for the CIC is how to be a good neighbour, and how to build up love and support for the park and museum, which it needs now and will need even more in the future.”