Complaints led to event cancellation
THE driving force behind get- ting Music on the Green re- ferred to the Safety Advisory Group was Bearsted and Thurnham Society, which is chaired by Ware Street resi- dent Roger Vidler. SAG’s comments led to the parish council cancelling this year’s event over a rise in health and safety costs. Mr Vidler (pictured), a for-
mer civil servant, claimed the parish council’s risk assess- ment was a “very inadequate document”. He pinpointed that the parish council calculated, in last year’s events notification form, that an estimated 500 peoplewould attend. Yet parish council chairman Chris Dyke said in ameeting in July last year that “nearly 4,000 people” were in attendance. Mr Vidler wrote: “I mention this because I imag-
ine the police have certain trigger points to help them decide on the level of response to an event. Unless the police are given realistic assessments about numbers, how can they plan effectively?” Five complaints were lodged about last year’s
A MAIDSTONE Council meeting ended in farce when members were unable to elect a chairman. It came about because Torieswanted to hold the position, contrary to a previous agreement that the job should go to someone outside the ruling group. An officer told the corporate services scrutiny committee that such a change in the constitution would have to be debated by the full council on June 22.
event. One of these was made by Bearsted Green resident Anna Preece, who said: “Complaints were made to the parish council about inadequate plan- ning, insufficient stewarding and crowd controls, traffic and parking chaos, noise and anti-social behaviour, drunkenness and public order issues after last sum- mer’s event.” Parish Cllr John Hughes, who organises the event, said: “This is a case of somebody stir- ring it, thinking they’re being clever, but not considering the ramifi-
THE parish council said that even if it were prepared to fi- nance Music on the Green, it would not have had enough time to implement the required traffic orders, which had to be in place six days after the SAG hearing.
cations of what they have done and how it may affect other events.” Inspector Adam Jones from Mid Kent Police’s tasking and co-ordinating unit recommended SAG involvement. He said that the event “has grown in size and changed from what was origi- nally a small event for the local community into something much bigger. I feel it is only right and proper that planning for this year’s event is given the proper level of scrutiny and lessons are learnt from last year.”
Chair who wasn’t
there...so members go home!
Having reached an impasse, Independent Fay Gooch was elected interim chairman in her ab- sence, which of course meant there was still no- body in the chair for the meeting. At thispoint, the threeLibDemsgotupandwent
home- leaving vice-chairman,ToryStephen Paine, to apologise for a "controversial meeting that would not be very productive as half of mem- bers had left".
Fire concerns over parked vehicles ONEofmany safety issues raised by SAG was the possibility that catalytic converters or tyres could heat up and set alight grass at William Harvey Field, which was the pro- posed parking area for Music on the Green. To compen-
sate, the parish council was told to have fire extinguishers at
the field and within gazebos on BearstedGreen, where SAG said there were risks of fires from portable barbecues. SAG additionally demanded fencing in front of lorries to pre- vent children crawling under them. A lost children plan also needed to be included in the event plan. This recommended: Jubilee Church pastoral car-
ers to take lost children to a gazebo and use walkie talkies to communicate among them- selves. Pastors to look for frantic parents and ask them to accom- pany to gazebo to identify child No announcement of loss
over PA system as it could en- courage others to claim children as their own.
BEARSTED PARISH COUNCIL Music On The Green 2011
Bearsted Parish Council regret to announce the cancellation of Music On The Green 2011, which was due to be held on Friday 8th July.
The Parish Council have always held Music On The Green as a community event, which was enjoyed by many people in the community, with the numbers attending increasing each year to show the popularity of the event. As a result of these increasing numbers and following complaints from a small number of residents and a representation from the chairman of The Bearsted & Thurnham Society, the event organisation was referred to Maidstone Borough Council’s Safety Advisory Group (SAG) for the first time this year. A meeting was held with the SAG on Friday 20th May to assess the event’s organisation, and this group were extremely helpful. However, the meeting highlighted additional health and safety requirements which the Parish Council needed to address in a short space of time to enable us to run the event. Following an in-depth review of the SAG’s requirements, the Council has regretfully made the decision that it will not be able to dedicate the additional time, money and effort to satisfy their requirements in time this year.
We appreciate that this decision will disappoint many of you, for which we apologise. However the Parish Council are hoping to hold Music On The Green again from 2012 with the appropriate requirements in place.
If you have any questions or require any further information, please contact any Parish Councillor or the Clerk in the Parish Office on 01622 630165
4 East You can e-mail the Downs Mail —
info@downsmail.co.uk
CANCELLED
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