Leicestershire County Cricket Club
Public Meeting – 15/12/2015
Graham Price of Marrons Planning (GP) – Introduce order of events and team:
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Jim Overend (JO) – Commercial Director LCCC
Phil Atkinson (PA) – Operations Manager LCCC
Andrew Lennie (AL) – Event Consultant Worldwide Events LTD
Ryan Carter (RC) – City Transport Manager
Wasim Khan (WK) – Chief Executive, LCCC
James Brunt (JB) – Abacus Lighting
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Agenda: Elton John Concert then questions, followed by Floodlights and then
questions.
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Hand over to JO.
Elton John Concert
JO - The club was very happy with the largely positive feedback on the club’s
proposals. Key issues surrounding Elton John Concert, that we will go on to discuss
in detail this evening, are:
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Traffic Management
Risk Assessments
Noise
Litter
Toilet provision
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Hand over to RC who is overseeing the Traffic Management Plan. RC was
involved in the Commonwealth Games and Rugby World Cup matches
hosted in Leicester at King Power Stadium.
RC - We intend to successfully deliver the event through a number of key goals:
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Provide a clear set of transport options, therefore providing a good
experience for ticket holders and minimising disruption to local residents.
Provide sufficient car parking within reasonable walking distance but outside
of area of event congestion.
Create controlled traffic area.
Controlled parking zone around the venue.
Residents permit scheme within a set area.
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Exploring idea around providing a direct link between the city centre and the
venue – a bus shuttle service. This also allows the potential to link up with
other modes of transport into the city i.e. trains.
Through research and planning, the club has secured over 2,400 car parking
spaces for a variety of different sites in the local area, including:
Leicester Tigers at Welford Road, Leicester City’s King Power Stadium,
Saffron Lane Sports Stadium and the Recreation Ground in Aylestone
(diagram shown on screen)
Nearly 7,000 cars can park in the centre of Leicester (diagram shown on
screen)
Ongoing engagement with Council to provide assurances as to which car
parks will be available on the day at the appropriate times.
Anti-clockwise flow of traffic directly around the venue, so Milligan Road,
Vernon Road, Grace Road, Park Hill Drive, Aylestone Road, Duncan Road,
and back on to Milligan Road again. Also looking to protect those roads with
right turns off the route, including Manners Road, Belmont Street and
Florence Street.
The area within that and including those roads we intend to provide as a
Residents Parking Scheme that will allow residents to park outside own
homes.
Transport Plan will work on the assumption of 2.5 people per vehicle on
average – based on event standards
Hand over to AL, Event Consultant, and PA to go through concert logistics, risk
assessments, noise, litter and toilet provision.
AL
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Grace Road is one of seven UK events Elton will be doing next year.
Promoter vastly experienced in these events – this is the 16th year they have
been doing the shows.
Tend to use football and cricket stadia around UK.
Doors open approx. 16:30 and a steady flow of people is anticipated.
Elton on stage around 19:30.
Finish around 22:20.
Will be applying for new premises licence – formulating application currently
and should be submitted in the next month.
Part of remit is to produce event safety management plan.
Will be working with police, fire, ambulance etc. to ensure that all bases are
covered.
Recognise noise as primary concern. Noise Consultant Vanguardia will be
liaising with Environmental Health and other to ensure acceptable noise plan.
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Show finished 22:20 then 2 hours to dismantle sound, lighting and video to
move to next venue. This has to be done because there is only one set of
equipment and there is another gig to set up for.
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Will be done with minimal noise disruption.
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6 or 7 trucks will be departing between 22:30 and 00:30.
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Will be large articulated trucks arriving early in the morning before the event
at approx. 07:00.
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Large amount of toilets will be provided by most exits within the site in
addition to existing toilet provision at the ground.
Will not be handing out promotional material at the end of the concert so as to
minimise waste outside the ground.
Teams patrolling in and out of site during and post event to deal with litter –
would walk the ‘park and walk’ routes to deal with litter there.
Collectable pint container with added £1 charge on top of drinks – will be
refundable on return so as to discourage discarding of cups – This idea was
very well-received by residents as it has been seen to work at other events,
namely music festivals.
PA
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Questions/concerns
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Concern raised over damage to parked vehicles – specific access plans are
being looked at with the one-way system.
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Why 17,000 tickets? – limited by egress capacity so 17,000 is roughly the
figure being looked at.
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Why was park and ride at Enderby not considered? – operating two bus
services from two different destinations would present its own difficulties, idea
still being explored but parking figures do not currently include park and ride
facility at Enderby.
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Concern over toilet provision at the ground – large amount of toilets will be
provided by most exits within the site in addition to existing toilet provision.
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Progress of Milligan Road wall – will be replaced by a new wall and railings in
Spring 2016.
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Will there be a cut-off time for dismantling equipment whether the work is
finished or not? – Only planning on taking down lighting, sound and video on
the night, which is a relatively short job. Staging etc. will be taken down next
day. The team is vastly experienced in the post-concert operation.
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What information has come in regarding postcode date of ticket sales? – 70%
of tickets currently sold are to LE postcodes.
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Will marshals monitor parking? There will be some personnel in the area but
residents recommended to keep their cars parked outside of their houses in
the afternoon to ensure spaces can be protected. There will be some support,
but it is an expansive area and will be difficult to monitor everything at all
times.
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Parking control area looks too small on diagram? The area is not yet set in
stone and area will be bigger than circle shown on map, this diagram was to
give an indication.
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Concern raised about people travelling to event who do not know area. Travel
information will be distributed with tickets when sent out (tickets are yet to be
sent out to purchasers). This generally happens a few weeks prior to the
event.
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Concern over number of people entering the site together. It is anticipated
that they will not all arrive together but over a period of time, AL knows this
from past experience. Event stewards will manage entry at gates.
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Concern over number of people exiting the ground together. The entire crowd
must be able to leave the ground together in the event of an emergency
situation. The number of attendees is based on egress capacity and therefore
numbers upon exiting are not considered to be a problem.
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Exits too small? Exits will be widened, and an additional temporary exit will be
provided. People will leave the site together but there have been no issues
with other concerts that the event company has dealt with previously.
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Some local roads will be closed briefly when critical footfall is reached. This
situation will be monitored constantly.
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Risk assessment for road closure? Ongoing discussions but there will be
protected emergency routes and there will be staff in high vis jackets
available to manage.
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Noise and lights? Noise management plan will be agreed with Environmental
Health. There will be some event lighting in the site used while dismantling.
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Point raised in the audience that no complaints have been received at similar
events at Northamptonshire CCC and others.
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Point raised that all of these issues are a first for LCCC. Response - a licence
for this individual event will be sought. Any future events will be subject to a
separate licence and if there are problems with this event, then it will not be a
foregone conclusion that another will be allowed.
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Catering vans outside of site? The club is not supporting any catering vans
outside of site. All food and drink will be sold from within the ground.
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Will the alleyway next to the outdoor nets be open? It is part of the exit
strategy, will be open at both ends, and there will be some form of lighting.
GP – thank you for the questions, the minutes of this meeting will be put on website
and we will follow up with an additional meeting in due course. Move onto floodlight
proposals.
Summary:
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Proposal for 6 x 40m permanent floodlight masts.
Selection of images shown on the projector.
Application submitted and validated 26/11/15.
Consultation period running from 30/11/15 – 22/12/15.
Going to planning committee 6/1/15.
Key considerations for the council are visual impact of masts and impact from
light spillage.
Hand over to James Brunt for technical details.
JB
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6 x 40m masts.
340 individual lights in total.
Galvanised steel masts.
Individual lights aimed at individual points on pitch.
Must better control of light compared to temporary lighting used previously;
lower wattage lamps can be used due to precision aiming.
40m mast required to minimise light spillage.
Temporary masts used in the past have been 30m – but 40m minimises light
spillage.
Impact should be no worse than existing street lighting.
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Ongoing discussion with council to reduce light spill. There will be more
shielding on lights and the masts will move closer to the pitch to allow a
steeper angle of light down on to the pitch.
Questions/concerns
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Discussion over comparison photos of Trent Bridge to stands and floodlights/
The height of masts was compared to stands and explained.
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Issue raised of visual impact of masts – compared to Burrows chimney on
Saffron Way. Stated that this chimney is 40 feet in height and that the masts
would be 3 times the height – but it has since been confirmed that the
Burrows Chimney is in fact 100 feet in height (30.5m).
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Support for the club emphasised and question of telescopic masts raised –
telescopic masts are cost prohibitive.
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How crucial to the club’s business plan are the lights? The masts are very
important to the club in terms of money generation – it is very important to be
able to start games later and have more people come to T20 games in the
evening.
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What about more buildings for hospitality as there is obviously some spare
land due to the idea of building flats? Apartments are not being built as this
will not move the club forward. There is a 5-year business plan at LCCC
which is looking at ground development.
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What about attracting other income through sponsorship? The club already
has a large number of key sponsorship deals and commercial income hit the
targets for 2015.
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Has a cost analysis been produced for LCCC in terms of telescopic and nontelescopic masts? Not at the moment, this will be produced for next meeting
for information. It was noted that telescopic masts are prone to technical
difficulties as well as being much more expensive.
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Specific request made at last meeting for horizontal view plan showing mast
in context. Drawing will be amended ASAP and posted on the website for
information.
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What type of light is produced, is it LED blue? – no, it is a white light. LED not
appropriate as it is five times the cost and there would be more light spillage,
so residents would be worse off.
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Concern raised over blue light and health impacts – explanation given. Are
there any health issues with metal halide light? Not for this type of application.
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Concern over light spill and light reflection – light reflection has been factored
into all calculations.
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Buzzing sound? There won’t be a problem with this installation.
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Floodlights will require a lot of power – there will be the need for a substation,
but it will be contained within an outer casing so there should be no sound
(buzzing). Location of substation is yet to be determined but will be within the
ground.
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Issue of privacy raised. There will be no privacy issues as TV cameras will be
focused on pitch. Existing CCTV cameras are not allowed to look outside of
site boundaries and have to be positioned so this is impossible.
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TV interviews would always be conducted in dugout/on pitch like always and
there are never any privacy issues from this.
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Questions raised about loss of trees and potential of increased light spillage –
all trees are under TPO (Tree Preservation Orders) and if a tree is removed it
must be replaced. Must apply to council to do any work regarding trees.
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Are the floodlights needed for the Elton John Concert? – In principle concert
can take place without the floodlights, although the lights form part of the
contingency for the event and could be used if needed. It is possible that they
are not needed at all.
Overall conclusions
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Fully scaled drawings will be obtained showing mast elevation in relation to
houses ASAP and posted on LCCC website.
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Cost comparison will be obtained for telescopic and non-telescopic masts.
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Next meeting will update on progress of:
o Licence application
o Transport plan
o Risk assessments
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Multi-agency meeting on 26.1.15 with regards to the concert – looking to
arrange next public meeting first week in February.
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The cricket ground wants to develop over the next 5 years and this is an
ongoing process not just concerning Elton John and floodlights. It is intended
to keep residents updated throughout the process.
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Residents should keep checking the website for updates, including the date of
the next meeting. Any questions? [email protected]