Croydon music event to go ahead despite fears over drug use and noise

A music festival in Croydon has been given the green light to go ahead despite objections from neighbours about noise and drug use.

On June 10, Croydon Council's licensing committee considered plans submitted by Our Thing Global (OTG) Entertainment for a festival in Wandle Park on July 20.

This is the first time OTG have applied for a licence to host the event at Wandle Park.

The committee was set on deciding by June 17, and chairwoman Cllr Patsy Cummings and members Cllr Mohammed Islam and Cllr Margaret Bird have agreed to let the event happen.

A resident on Vicarage Road, which is directly behind Wandle Park, had objected to the festival, saying that past music events held at Wandle Park left many residents feeling “imprisoned in their own homes”.

Leah Shuttleworth, who said her husband had been quite ill and she herself suffers from high blood pressure, also said the “continuous noise contributes to extreme stress and anxiety”.

Leah said the noise deprives them of their “quiet enjoyment” in their own property, and that the noise transcends past her double-glazing windows, resulting in her furniture rattling.

Leah also claimed that the smell of marijuana makes its way into her home and that "there are so many drug deals that seem to be taking place in the area, which is made worse by the event.”

She also claimed that a lot of people parked their cars outside of her home with “menacing looks”, and that she received abuse from someone who parked on Vicarage Road but didn’t live there.

Leah said: “I felt he was going to get out of the car and hit me, but he sped off before I could get help.”

She also said that in past years her front garden had been littered with rubbish from attendees of the event and had to step over vomit.

When Cllr Margaret Bird asked if she sees many security guards outside of Wandle Park, Leah said she sees people who are meant to direct cars to a car park but claimed many of them turn a blind eye.

Calvin Hanks, the health and safety for OTG Entertainment, spoke on behalf of the applicant Ramone Roper, and started by saying: “Parking is not a licencing objective.”

Calvin said Leah’s noise objections were “exaggerated”, pointing out that the music would only play up to 9pm and would not continue beyond that time.

Cllr Bird spoke to Ramone directly about the number of SIA (Service Industry Authority) bodies, to which he said that there would be a ratio of one SIA body to every 50 guests.

With 5,000 people expected to attend the event, this will mean 100 SIA bodies will be there.

He added: “There will be a designated head of security, and they will prevent people from entering with open bottles.

“Nobody will be allowed in with a bag bigger than an A4 sheet of paper so they can’t hide anything.”

Cllr Bird also questioned how Ramone would keep the drugs out of Wandle Park.

Ramone said that there would be security and sniffer dogs who would be able to detect any drugs that could potentially enter Wandle Park.

The council have agreed to let the event go on nonetheless, and they are currently unable to comment due to the purdah pre-election period.