Councillors are being asked to give their views on a five-year outdoor events strategy for Brighton and Hove next week.
Brighton and Hove City Council’s draft outdoor events strategy is due to be presented to the council’s Place Overview and Scrutiny Committee on Tuesday (25 March) before going to the cabinet in May.
This year’s programme was approved by the cabinet last November and includes three major events – the Rugby World Cup, Pride and the Brighton Marathon.
It also includes 10 outdoor festivals including the Brighton Festival and Fringe in May and On The Beach – as well as more than 100 civic and community events .
According to a report, outdoor events generate £650,000 in fees and the council aims to increase this to more than £1 million.
For the next 10 years, the council is looking to widen the programme to include markets and develop the night-time economy.
Priority areas include encouraging more diverse events by finding cultural gaps in the programme and developing “homegrown” organisations.
A presentation to the cabinet said that the council had started regular resident forums which it wanted to expand as well as creating an events portal on the council website to allow for feedback and improvements.
The report to the committee said: “We want to ensure the programme is fair and inclusive, representative of and accessible to all our evolving communities, with strong community ownership, as well as providing opportunities for local businesses and talent to grow and lead.
“There will continue to be a strong commercial drive to both understand how we can drive even greater benefits to the local economy building on the £120 million benefits currently estimated, as well securing greater income and media coverage for these events.”
The Place Overview and Scrutiny Committee is due to meet at Hove Town Hall at 2pm next Tuesday (25 March). The meeting is scheduled to be webcast on the council’s website.
The council have demonstrated time and time again that they have not carried out appropriate impact assessments in thier noise management plan. This is clearly evidence by the amount of noise complaints from residents. The council also hide behind out dated policies in relation to how they handle noise complaints from an event they have given licence to. No one is saying outdoor events should not take place but the council have to give care and consideration to the negative impact these events have on the lives of residents directly impacted.
For the sake of debate, noise levels are often quite subjective, so it would be reasonable to take complaints with a bit of a pinch of salt. However, I am completely in agreement that events should have a reasonable assessment as part of their application. For novel events, that should come in the form of a review session after the event.
An interesting post.
Not carrying out appropriate noise assessment is something that falls off the tick box in some cases, but people will complain about a pin being dropped to be honest. There’s people who move close to an Airfield or Railway station then moan about hearing planes and trains and on bonfire night complain about fire works going off.
Of course the council need to consider noise at events, but there are some that can not be avoided.
We have three major events booked, the Rugby world cup, not a problem really as I suspect matches will be held at the Amex Stadium and the noise no doubt the same as when Albion play at home and Rugby fans as a rule are better behaved than some supposedly football fans.
The Brighton Marathon generally creates very little in the way of excessive noise levels.
Pride, always a noisy affair anyway and lasts the whole weekend but I imagine the party in the park does impact the local residents, so I’m with you there, but where would you hold this event.
This year includes 10 outdoor festivals including the Brighton Festival and Fringe in May and On The Beach – as well as more than 100 civic and community events.
We always entertain Brighton Fest, Fringe and the Beach and not known for excessive noise anyway, or is it some of us have just got used to it, I don’t know…
It would be nice to have some classical music outdoors, but I guess that wouldn’t work in Brighton. Not so diverse perhaps. There was a time when the Brighton Festival was considered too highbrow, now it appears to have gone to the other extreme.
The strategy is generic club music and cover bands, and the council wants to avoid any local acts or new talent. Apparently this is about pulling in day trippers from London.
Where in the strategy does it say that it’s only for club music and cover bands?
If a classical music concert organiser came foreard I’m sure the council would welcome them.
But these events require a commercial organiser to bear the risk.
I think outdoor classical music events would work. Brighton Festival usually has some classical events, albeit indoors. As do, shows in the “Music By Candlelight” ( I think this is happening soon). Hence, I can see Classical outdoor events being popular as well.
I’ve lost touch with events, but I used to love the Sacred World Music Festival (which was indoors from memory). Sadly I think this stopped years ago.
There is no reason why there couldn’t be a classical music event outdoors.
A fund built up from a £1 levy on big ticket events sales should be implemented immediately and distributed through in independent body and made available to communities where the event is held . Similar to what Pride does with their Pride Impact Fund. Its not good enough to say the council benefits, when that is not transparent or accountable. They ignore the residents whose lives are disturbed and are not compensated in any way. Engage with business, residents and communities. Change the status quo and hold the right event in the right place which includes the communities crying out to hold events. Until this happens the Council cannot claim to be listening. Is their a councillor who will say this at The Place Overview and Scrutiny Committee?
Communities can hold events though. It’s easy to get permission to hold a community event in a local park etc. We have had a few over recent years in my local area and it’s local people who organise them. It’s good that we have a range of events in the city over the summer months. It is a city after all. Take the Children’s Parade, Pride Parade and the Burning of the Clocks parade, the streets are absolutely lined with local people enjoying the events. I really hope that no-one does overturn the events ethos that we currently have. Events are for the benefit of us city dwellers are they not? I think i heard that revenue from the events (fees that the big event holders have to pay to run the event on council land) goes into the general funding pot and so goes toward the running of the city and i know that the big events pay money to cover the costs of the clean up afterwards.
That has already started…remember the Kemptown carnival? Also worth remembering as well the the fees the big promotors pay are 3-4 times less that any other comparable city, according to the councils own data. We give them away so a few big promotors can make millions.Promotors do pay for a basic site clean up, but they do not restore the site. The Events Manager recent told residents that On the Beach were supposed to clear the old that was left on the beach last year, but didn’t bother…and the council didn’t enforce it.
Actually what B&H City Council charge promoters is comparable to some of our UK big major cities.
We recently ran a community event for the local area. The only complaint came from someone who wasn’t in the country at the time, having heard from another person that the noise of children playing outside disturbed them on a Saturday early afternoon. We funded it through grants and our income, ensuring it all benefits the community. Part of the criteria for our status as a CIC and for grant funding is that we must explicitly demonstrate community benefit.
I would suggest that by protecting community funds in their budget; and supporting community groups, that do a whole phantasmagoria of events for the community; the council listens and responds to the value of community. Regarding this aspect, at least.
The Events Team claimed in the November Cabinet meeting that we are one of the most expensive cities for outdoor venues in the country. An FOI check on the data suggests we are actually 3-4 times cheaper than any other city. The venues are literally given away for ‘mates rates’ so a small circle of people can make millions. One of the companies that benefits was actually set up by a council official, and he still owns another company with the director.
If we charged proper commercial rates, we could make over £1m more than we do now.
All the plans are secretive, and produced by a single company that has no contracts with the council. Attempts to understand the plans have been met with bizarre responses, including the claim that if the promotor knew about the Freedom of Information Act, it would cause mental health issues.
The events are run to noise standards that louder than normally permitted, and the promotors rarely clean the sites properly. The Events Manager himself recently told residents that in one case they are are supposed to restore the sites but didn’t bother and the council didn’t try o make them do it. the site was covered in oil for a year.
The whole thing is a shambles. We need to get an Events Team that can run events professionally and for the benefit of the city, not just a few promotors. We should not be supporting corporate welfare.
Got any links to back up those figures?
Outdoor events held and do hold engagement meetings where minutes are not taken !
An FOI wouldn’t reveal business rates, because that’s a specific exemption in FOI rules. Care to explain this terminological inexactitude?
The biggest issue for me is that we are increasingly seeing public spaces being handed over for private use, not only for a weekend but for days before and after during set up and take down of event infrastructure.
Access to green, open spaces is of proven benefit to mental health and while the council considering reducing availability of these to people is financially understandable, consideration should be given to what alternatives those who would otherwise be using somewhere have available to them that won’t be impacted by noise from an event.
More excuses to close roads and privatise public spaces.
All for the enrichment of a council officer who has a stake in these events, allegedly.
I am not against events. What I am against is lack of noise and economic risk impact assessments, secrecy and not knowing how much money the council gets and where it goes.
This should all be transparent information in the public domain!
The biggest money spinner used to be the Veteran car run which people, often monied people, would make a weekend of, filling up the local hotels, including a famous gala dinner, shopping and eating out, all while they awaited their friends and loved ones appearing at the finish line in Madeira Drive.
Marathons tend to benefit only the organisers and a few cafes and restaurants, but most runners are not making a weekend of it. And many cyclists stay only one night, if at all, when there is a cycling event. Often their back up team will be idling in a car at the back of the city with a cycle roof rack waiting to drive them home again!
For the real measure of how economically successful an event is, you need to talk to the city’s hotels and retailers.
Business figures are never in the public realm though, Mike. Never have been. Anyone can apply to close a road, that’s not unique to events, and legally, councils are empowered to make sure of their spaces. The biggest “money spinner” is well above and beyond, the Pride Festival.
How about turning the Gas Works into an outdoor cultural space like Athens did (succesfully)
We have Madeira Drive and Black Rock
Good to see the council trying to raise a million for the housing crisis 👍 or just to line there own pockets as they do