The Oktoberfest Proposal

A proposal has been made to Ealing Council to host an an ‘Oktoberfest’ event next summer on Acton Green adjacent to Turham Green Station. This is a second approach from the promoter, a German entrepreneur named Carsten Raun.

Ealing Council have previously consulted with the BPRA, Acton Green Residents Association (AGRA) and the BPS on the suitability of the application.  On that occasion all the groups raised concerns about the suitability of Acton Green for a variety of reasons.

For this revised application two local Councillors Andrew Steed and Gary Busuttil attended a meeting with Ealing Council Events Dept at Ealing Town Hall, along with BPRA and AGRA representatives where we had a chance to meet Carsten Raun, hear his explanation of the event and discuss the details of the proposals.

Diagram Produced By BPRA Using Information Given By Organiser

Both the BPRA and AGRA representatives raised concerns about the suitability of Acton Green for this type of event and in particular, questioned the following:

• The Choice of event site in comparison to other Ealing locations and neighbouring Borough of   Hounslow. Particularly why Acton Green was chosen over other parks and open spaces.
• The scale of the event in regards to attendance, compared with other events.
• Restricted access to park.
• Provision of adequate welfare facilities to prevent urination in public space during egress from event.
• Impact on local sites of religious worship especially on Sunday, notably St. Michael and All Angels   Church.
• The time at which live music will be terminated during the event.

The event promoter made a case at the meeting that this was primarily a German cultural event, with German music and attendees encouraged to dress to suit.   The organiser pointed out that they have successfully held events at three other locations in London and other UK locations without any of the issues we raised occurring. More information can be found about the recent Oktoberfest in Leicester here.  Key details of the event were as follows:

• The proposed event will be over five days (Wednesday-Sunday) on a date to be agreed next August or September.
• The event will open at 4PM each day except for Saturday when it opens at 12.30 with 'oompah' music played till 10.30
• Last orders and music stops at 10.30PM with the event ending and the site vacated at 11PM
• The event is to be ticketed with a strict number of attendees agreed with the Council (potentially 5000-6000 over the 5 days)
• There will be a main marquee seating 1500 people within a fenced off area of Acton Green (see diagram produced by the BPRA)
• The organisers will provide portaloos on site, and will 'manage' a walkway between the site entrance and Turnham Green Station to prevent unseemly behaviour at closing time.

 There were three further key concerns raised:

• The proposed event site is within an area of conservation. This raised the question “is this event in keeping with the local area?” An event of this nature could have a negative impact on the park environment itself, individuals utilising the park and stakeholders in the immediate surrounding area, the most obvious of these being local residents.
• There is not a precedent in the location for a commercial event. Concerns that the proposal consists of an unknown entity which has not taken place in the area before and the potential knock-on impacts of this are uncertain.
• The possibility of Acton Green and Acton Green Common becoming a host venue for commercial events of unlimited number and scope in future. By offering the park as a venue for hire to commercial operators there is a concern that a ‘floodgate effect’ will begin with events taking place in the area increasing in both number scale.

The event is currently under review by the Events Committee at Ealing Council and we await a decision. However, we believe that it is likely to be given provisional go-ahead as a one-off event on a trial basis. There is a strong imperative within the council to find new sources of revenue, and events offers a possibility for such a commercial outcome.  Ealing Council's event policy documents are attached to the bottom of this article to be downloaded. Acton Green already has a drinks ‘premises-licence’ and, according to the Events team, is ‘under-used’ compared to Gunnersbury Park or Ealing Common. It is likely that the council will opt for a pragmatic experiment and run one year of this event to judge the outcome. We will keep residents informed as to the decision.

Click here to give your opinions via a BPRA survey on the Proposal.