Councillors claim event management plan for Windrush Festival “does not go far enough to address concerns”, reports Nick Clark, Local Democracy Reporter

Plans to host a Caribbean festival in Beckton Park next month have been blocked by councillors.

Councillors refused to grant a premises licence to organisers of Windrush Festival, citing concerns including transport, road safety and public nuisance.

Festival organiser Wendy Cummins told the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) she was “deeply disappointed” with the decision.

Council minutes say councillors “welcome” Cummins’ aim to host the festival. However they also said her event management plan “does not go far enough to address the concerns” of council highways and licensing officers.

Events company Radiate Festival hoped to host the Windrush Festival in Bekton Park on Sunday, 21st June.

The festival has previously taken place in South London – in Crystal Palace Park in 2018, 2019 and 2021 and Burgess Park in 2022 and 2023.

Cummins said she wanted to host the festival in Beckton Park this year as it is a “large, flat exansive area” making it a “great space for events”.

She says she first approached the council about using the park in 2024, and Radiate Festival applied for a premises licence on 6th March.

This would allow the company to sell alcohol and provide live music in the park for an event up to 4,999 people.

However, the council’s highways and transport department raised objections over parking and capacity on the Docklands Light Railway (DLR).

Highways officers’ concerns’ included that event vehicles entering the site would not conflict with pedestrians, damage they might cause to the pavement, whether Transport for London had confirmed there would be enough space on the DLR, and on-street parking.

The town hall’s licensing team rasied concerns including how people arriving at and leaving the festival would be directed to DLR stations, and how organisers would ensure attendees dispersed after the festival, rather than remain in the area drinking.

The highways department said the organisers would need to apply and pay for an events traffic order to protect emergency access to the site, and provide and updated traffic management plan.

The licensing team asked for an updated events management plan with more detailed information on matters including security, accessibility and noise management.

In response, Cummins said he had adapted her events management plan, and noted she had experience of organising similar events since 2018.

Minutes say she noted that the park “has benefited from previous events such as funfair event and they were able to use the pathway of the park for larger and heavier vehicles”.

They add: “She understands the licensing regime and has been speaking to the parks team to see how she can bridge the issues identified by the responsible authorities.”

Councillors voted to refuse the application at a licensing sub-committee meeting on Monday, 11th May. The decision was published today (21st).

Minutes say they felt Cummins’ event management plan “does not go far enough to address the concerns raised by the responsible authorities and nothing was presented, or any evidence given by the applicant that could give them reasons to depart from the advice of the responsible authorities”.

Cummins told the LDRS she had made changes to her event management plan and was exploring options for more parking.

She added: “With intergenerational numbers of less than 5,000 people the multi-modes of transport taken would have more than accommodated needs of visitors. There would also have been a fair proportion of local people attending the event not using public transportation at all.”

However she said the extra cost of an event traffic order, and of ground survey fees, “made the event cost prohibitive to a small organiser delivering a community event”.

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