A Jazz festival for Beckenham Place Park has been given the green light by Lewisham Council's licensing committee.
The park, which is undergoing major regeneration including restoring the lake, will host the one-day Jazz festival, Naked City, on July 27 in an ongoing licence.
Up to 7,000 people can attend the all-ages event, which will see sales of alcohol from midday to 10.30pm.
Councillors queried how easy it would be for attendees to get to Beckenham Place Park for the car free event.
Cllr Coral Howard was also concerned for the disruption to park users, with the set up and take down of the event expected to take nine days.
She said: “It’s not a particularly easy place to get to with one station and not lots of regular buses.
“It is right in a residential area, although it is a big area itself.
“It will disrupt the users of the park
“We need to know people aren’t gong to be disturbed leaving in the night,” she added.
But most of the audience was from south east London, and were expected to use public transport, taxi, or walk, event director Kieran Clancy explained.
He said use of the park wouldn’t be disrupted for the whole nine days with a gradual build-up.
The average festival goer was 32 years old and with two thirds of the event jazz music, there was low risk of antisocial behaviour, he said.
The committee also heard event organisers would monitor sound levels.
But Park user and resident Nick Goy, who had objected the licence application, said the park was a tranquil green space which should be protected.
He was one of six objectors to the festival.
“We have all enjoyed them [parks] and they should be there for future generations. It’s nature, it’s ancient woodland, there’s badgers, there’s bats; for me the purpose of the park is to get back to nature. It’s little green lungs in London,” he said.
Mr Goy was also unhappy he was not able to be represented at the meeting by Cllr Alan Hall, who is both a ward councillor and sits on the licensing committee.
Lewisham Council’s legal advice had warned Cllr Hall should not represent Mr Goy.
He said: “I would like Cllr Hall to be my assistant this evening. The legal officer found he should not be my assistant.
“I would like to register my dissatisfaction that it was…definitely hinted he should not be my assistant.”
Lewisham Council principal lawyer Petra Der Man said: “I am most sorry you never gave us warning that that would be your intention, I would then have contacted you and advised you separately.”
Mr Goy had lodged three pages of objections, which had been noted over with parts blanked out. The committee heard only three sentences were relevant.
Mr Goy then said he was entitled to a fair and impartial hearing.
Ms Der Man said: “You are quite right…I am asking you to expand upon and bring to members attention to matters which are agreed to be relevant.”
But Mr Goy said he had tailored his objections to the four licensing objectives and believed they were relevant.
He said: “I would like to know the reason [why they couldn’t be considered]. The problem is with someone unilaterally ruling them out,” he said.
The meeting was then adjourned for councillors to read the entirety of Mr Goy’s objection.
The committee decided to grant the licence.
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