Over 40 residents gathered to form a new opposition group to Gunnersbury Park live events

A resident addresses the meeting organised by Conservative Chiswick Gunnersbury ward councillors

At a packed meeting at Chiswick Town Hall, individuals and resident groups vowed to keep up the fight against loud live music events in Gunnersbury Park

Residents who oppose the five-year planning permission granted by Hounslow Council to Gunnersbury Park community interest group (CIC) to run live music events met at Chiswick Town Hall on Thursday 24 September to consider their next move.

The local residents have already battled hard to have their voices heard, first by demanding a review of the CIC’s licence to hold events, in February, and then at two Planning Committee meetings over the summer.

READ ALSO: Gunnersbury residents demand a review of Gunnersbury Park’s licence to hold events

READ ALSO: Gunnersbury Park allowed to keep current noise level for festivals

At the end of the licence review, councillors on the Licensing Panel decided the noise levels for festivals should be kept as they are currently.

Councillors on Hounslow Council’s Planning Committee on 3 September who voted through the five-year planning permission; objectors were not allowed to speak at this meeting because it was a deferment of the previous meeting in August when councillors listened to the residents’ objections

Councillors on Hounslow Council’s Planning Committee decided on 3 September to grant Gunnersbury Park CIC a five-year planning permission for 19 live events a year, meaning that much of the park would be closed to the public for 115 days each year during the set up and take down of the festival stages.

READ ALSO: Planning committee defers Gunnersbury Park festivals decision for another month

READ ALSO: Councillors vote for 19 live event days at Gunnersbury Park every year for the next five years

Despite the recent defeats, those at the meeting were in a positive mood as they gathered in the Hogarth Hall to review their options and plan next steps.

The meeting was called by the three Chiswick Gunnersbury ward councillors who wanted to know what residents wished to do next, if anything. It was extremely well attended, with over 40 participants, and everyone had something to say.

“We had a list of suggestions to make, based on what we as councillors could help with, but didn’t need to use it as almost all the points were made by people attending,” said Councillor Joanna Biddolph.

LoveBox at Gunnersbury Park

Cllr Ron Mushiso added:

“We have always called for the views of our local residents to be central to the plans for Gunnersbury Park events.”

The Chiswick Town Hall meeting was an opportunity for the residents, who believe they have been silenced for the last eight years, to express their concerns, but more importantly to formulate a strategy to oppose the continuation of loud, large-scale events.

“They [the CIC] have got to see teeth before they wince,” said one resident Adrian Lee, a former Conservative councillor, in a rousing speech. It was a sentiment felt by many, but how to do this was the question on everyone’s lips.

Festival stage at Gunnersbury Park

 A Judicial review?

The councillors had helpfully arranged for Patricia Langley of Old Chiswick Protection Society (OCPS), who recently won a Judicial Review of Hounslow Council’s decision to build tower blocks beside Hogarth Roundabout, to consider whether this time-consuming and expensive option was worth pursuing.

READ ALSO: Old Chiswick Protection Society wins Judicial Review of LB Hounslow’s decision to build Hogarth Roundabout tower block

She was able to give a straightforward explanation of the implications and, given the applause, was hugely appreciated for the clarity she was able to offer.

The mood of the room was that even if a Judicial Review passed the legal test the CIC would simply put in another application and that it would likely pass. Nobody wished to waste vast sums of money and time on such an exercise.

Local groups including members of the Gunnersbury Park Garden Estate Residents Association (GPGERA), the West Chiswick and Gunnersbury Society (WCGS) and many individuals who have repeatedly written to councillors have already invested a huge amount of effort into showing how impacted they have been.

View of the green space at Gunnersbury Park which is used for live event days. Photograph Juliet McDonald

Working action group

Instead, it was agreed by the majority, that a working group of residents with representatives of known groups (such as residents’ associations) and individuals representing specific areas where the sound is felt most should meet and decide what to do and who should do it.

“We need to quash the deliberately wrong impression, used by supporters of the festivals, that it is only people who live close to Gunnersbury Park who are badly affected,” said Cllr Biddolph.

“Residents from over two miles away, in Hammersmith and Shepherd’s Bush, as well as over one mile away in Acton are affected and all deserve to be recognised and, I hope, they will all be represented in the working group.”

Turnham Green; photograph Barbara Chandler

Statutory noise nuisance

Amongst many of the issues that could be addressed by the action group, the proving of statutory noise nuisance, as explained by Heathfield Court resident, Ian Sanderson, was thought to be one of the most effective ways of defining the impact that music events have on residents.

He was able to describe to the group how he and his cohort had successfully stopped amplified sound events on Turnham Green Common back in 2001 by organising professional acoustic testing showing the uplift between non-event days and event days.

The Horseshoe Pond at Gunnersbury Park; photograph Juliet McDonald

London-wide issue

Another idea that was raised at the meeting by Marie Rabouhans of West Chiswick and Gunnersbury Society was the formation of a larger London-based group who could address the issue of parks being forced to rely on large commercial events to fund basic maintenance.

“The problem of the misuse of public parks is wider than Gunnersbury Park or the two councils responsible for it,” said Marie. “It is a London-wide issue.”

Parks in Greenwich, Lambeth and, closer to home, in Ealing are all facing battles to save green space.

READ MORE: Brockwell Park festivals ruling highlights battle over use of urban parks

READ MORE: Ealing Council’s cabinet backs plans for a pop-up theatre in Walpole Park despite widespread local protests

“We should therefore focus on finding a new model for funding the upkeep of public parks in London,” continued Marie.

“Such a model should place less reliance on large, commercial events but could include some as part of the mix. A London-wide discussion facilitated, perhaps, by the Council to Protect Rural England (CPRE) London and the London Forum might be a way to seek a solution.”

Meanwhile Gunnersbury Park has started announcing its lineups for next summer.

READ ALSO: Madness and Simply Red to play Gunnersbury Park in the summer of ’27