Plans for music to be played at a street food market in Cutty Sark Gardens have been thrown out by Greenwich Council after complaints from residents and local councillors.
All four councillors in the area and 14 residents had submitted objections to the plans by Greenwich Hospital – the naval charity that owns much of the town centre – to play music by the historic tea clipper.
Councillors had also complained that their own town hall was not enforcing a ban on unlicensed busking in the area, while residents have complained that they are unable to escape the sound of the buskers outside their windows.
A licensing sub-committee said that it heard “compelling evidence of the existing noise, disturbance and public nuisance within the vicinity, including from the market and recorded music being played by market stallholders for long periods of time”.
There had been “an ongoing increase in the levels of public nuisance, noise and disturbance impacting upon daily living”, the sub-committee said in its report.
Greenwich Hospital wanted a licence to play live and recorded music between noon and 4pm on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays all year round – but the proposed stage was just 20 metres from housing blocks that face the Cutty Sark.
Rachid Ghailane, Greenwich Hospital’s senior market operations manager, said at a meeting last week that a full-time supervisor would be monitoring the sound and that traders had asked for music.
He said that Greenwich Hospital had received no complaints since it had taken over the street food market from another operator in March, but Creekside councillor Calum O’Byrne Mulligan said he had made two complaints on a single day in April.
O’Byrne Mulligan said that staff had tried to argue that busking was allowed, and that he had to point to a sign above their heads to persuade them that it was banned.
“Every single weekend we see amplified buskers,” he said “If the staff are unable to enforce that simple existing rule, I would question how likely it is we will see enforcement with a decibel counter.”
One local resident, Anna Ginsburg, said at the licensing hearing: “I was struggling yesterday with noise from an amplified busker and we are struggling with Greenwich Council just not being clear.
“Music can be heard loudly in every room of my home. The plans are 20 metres from my bedroom and my living room. I sometimes work nights and this will impact everyone’s mental health severely.”
One resident told the hearing that she was suffering panic attacks because she was unable to escape the noise. Another neighbour, Kim Jackson, said: “They repeat the same music over and over again – it’s invasive and you feel your privacy is being taken away from you.”
Majella Anning, another Creekside councillor, said that the flats had been built long before Cutty Sark Gardens was created. She asked the committee: “If there was an application to play amplified music across the road from where you live, would you grant that?”
Ghailane said that even though the licence was for three days a week, the music would only be played on one day, while James Charlton, Greenwich Hospital’s head of property, said that allowing the music could help the council control busking in the area.
The decision was made by two councillors on the licensing sub-committee, chair David Gardner, and Clare Burke-McDonald. While the meeting took place on July 8, the decision was only published this week after an enquiry from The Greenwich Wire.
You must be logged in to post a comment.