Plans to hold two music festivals in a suburban park have raised concerns about their impact on wildlife and neighbors.
The events, Sun City in the Park and The K-Pop Festival, are advertised to take place at Oak Hill Park, East Barnet, over the weekend of August 27-28.
Sun City is a garage and house music festival, while K-Pop features popular Korean music.
Rob White, secretary and treasurer of the East Barnet Residents Association, said Barnet Council had not held consultation or educated residents about the events.
He said: ‘The problem is that it’s a very small park which is very tightly surrounded by houses. It is important for wildlife.
“People come to enjoy the park for its beauty, especially on holiday weekends. They organize picnics and walk dogs, play games and play sports. It seems a shame to restrict that by having an event there.
“Oak Hill Park is such a delicate nature preserve, and anything could so easily go wrong. That’s really what we don’t want. »
Mr White said 96.5 per cent of people who took a poll on the main East Barnet Residents Association Facebook group were against holding the events in the park. “There are obviously people who might want to go to the events,” he said. “But we’re just saying it’s not appropriate in a nature reserve in a small local park.”
Local resident Dave Purdy also complained about the lack of consultation. “No one in the area knew about it until we saw the advertisement for it,” he said. “I have nothing against these events, but this park is totally unsuited to this sort of thing.”
Dave said fencing off parts of the park from the general public on one of the busiest summer weekends of the year would be “totally unacceptable for an area that prides itself on its green space”.
He added that the park was “surrounded by a residential area” and there were “no real transport links”. Dave also asked, “How are people going to get there? Where are they going to park and will there be any road closures? »
A Barnet Council spokesperson said: ‘Council is aware of the concerns expressed by residents and the situation is still under review.
The organizers of both events have been approached for comment
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Source: www.times-series.co.uk
This notice was published: 2022-04-30 17:15:00
