60 conditions to be met for festival licence
ORGANISERS of a music festival that suffered “incidents of crime and disorder” last year will need to meet more than 60 conditions for this year’s event to go ahead.
Y2K Entertainment Music and Arts’ application for a premises licence to hold the event in Abbey Park was granted subject to the conditions.
Police said there were “serious shortfalls” in the running of the first Africa Music Festival UK, held in Nelson Mandela Park last summer.
The full list of conditions for this year include a requirement for more detailed safety and noise control plans to be submitted and signed off by the authority.
Event organisers need to meet and work with a safety advisory group to ensure “event management plans are robust and all necessary documentation is in place”.
Only once the safety advisory group is satisfied that the event can go ahead safely will permission be given for the use of Abbey Park.
At the time of the application, Y2K said the measures it would put in place included working with the police, providing security and stewards and carrying out drug searches.
The organisers said they would make sure they had “enough barriers for crowd control” in the park, an ambulance and a first aid station, and would “implement policies to keep safe children and vulnerable adults”.
A spokesman for the group said: “We are now working closely with police, noise, licensing reinforcement and events teams to make sure we are compliant with all licensing terms and conditions.
“Our objective is to grow this unique festival while being inclusive to communities and making sure that the festival is safe, familyfriendly and enjoyable.
“This year we have artists from more African nations such as Zimbabwe, South Africa, Zambia, Democratic Republic of Congo and Nigeria.
“This is all about promoting African music and cultures and we are hopeful that prominent media such as BBC will support us in order to have wide coverage for this truly unique festival.”
A city council spokesman said: “The application for a premises licence was approved, with a significant number of conditions, by the licensing sub-committee following a meeting.
“This only covers the requested licensable activities of the planned event. The event organisers will now need to meet and work with a multi-agency safety advisory group, which includes our festival and events team, emergency services, regulatory services and others.
“Only once the safety advisory group is satisfied the event can go ahead safely will permission be given for the use of Abbey Park.” The Africa Music Festival UK is planned for August 24.
The event organisers will now need to meet and work with a multiagency safety advisory group
City council