Forum Topic

Lovebox in Gunnersbury Park

During the week leading up to the Lovebox festival, the park has been increasingly cut-off from local residents who use it 365 days a year. What was once a haven from city life is being threatened by our councils' desire for money. Yes, a considerable amount has been invested in 'improving' the park but I would rather it stayed as it was (a haven of tranquillity) if this is the price local residents have to pay. And we've yet to experience the noise and disruption of the festival and the aftermath of its rubbish. I doubt the Rothchilds had this type of usage in mind when covenanting the park to local residents.

Patricia McCarthy ● 2673d21 Comments

The petition asking the council to revoke the licence is still live:https://you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/hounslow-review-your-premises-license-with-gunnersbury-park

Charlotte Kasner ● 2666d

Chiswick's local website also has a forum on this issue. The topic has generated far more interest than this forum and, overall, there seems to be more concern about the consequences of last weekend's events than the messages posted here.Many people on this forum and the Chiswick one have commented on the noise level, the rubbish, the closed roads, portaloos outside people's houses, and the fact that dog walkers have effectively been 'banned' from the Park. I've not seen mention on either site about the loss of enjoyment of the MANY other regular users of the Park:1) The regular Saturday Park run has been suspended throughout July - an event enjoyed by hundreds.2) The many children who have been unable to enjoy the playground, because it's been inaccessible.3) The hundreds of people who use the Park on Summer weekends for a picnic, to read a book, or kick a football around.I went to the Park today. The barricades are slowly being removed but many will stay in place due to the forthcoming Secret Cinema and the sports hub building project. Loads of rubbish, but OK, that will hopefully be removed. Maybe most saddening is the state of the grass, which will take a long time to recover, particularly in this weather.

Patricia McCarthy ● 2667d

Like Patricia I use the park most days to walk my dog. However I've avoided it for the best part of 2 weeks now. I have no issues with festivals/concerts and believe everyone deserves their own form of enjoyment. Unfortunately this enjoyment comes at a great expense for others. It seemed to take around a week for the set up and a great chunk of the open field was shut off for users during this time, alongside the other half of the field which was already shut off for the lorries to get into the building site. I am sure that it will also take the best part of a week to take everything down during which time it will not be a very nice place to walk.It seems that the councils have now decided that our parks are the way to make more money without a thought for local residents or the day to day park users. Very worrying to see that as well as the Secret Cinema there is also going to be a circus!

Jill Stokoe ● 2667d

The Mela is just one day and ends quite early so no major noise problems. It used to create serious traffic problems but has been much better organised in recent years.Also, anyone who complains about the Mela gets called a racist. :)

Susan Kelly ● 2668d

Clearly the organisers were taken to task over the dB levels from Thurday (soundcheck evening) and Friday - at those times the volume was noticeable but on Saturday and Sunday I'd never really known it was going on.The issue was always gfoing to be strain on infrastructure - you simply cannot assume 20,000 people will leave ANY area quickly or quietly. Look at how long it takes in even purpose built venues.I've no big issue with these events as long as they are properly policed - and that's the rub. Do they pay for police? Nah.My bigger issue is that there's a circus planned to be there. Not happy about that!Footnote - don't recall such loud complaints over the Mela? What do they do different????

Colin Goodman ● 2668d

Regarding the noise, take a look at:http://www.chiswickw4.com/shared/congunnsprk066loveboxnoise.htmAnd after the Secret Cinema throughout August, there is a circus planned for the Park in October, see:https://www.skiddle.com/whats-on2/London/Gunnersbury-Park/Diversity-Ignite/13251448/Looks like Gunnersbury Park could become the venue for many events in the future.

Patricia McCarthy ● 2668d

I didn't think the noise was intolerable, even along Lionel Road North, and while it carried a fair distance it was easily ignored. Let's face it, we're all used to aeroplanes and it came nowhere near the din made by Heathrow on a daily basis.What annoyed me most was the excessive amount of land partitioned off. There was no reason that people should have been prevented walking completely around the festival area and in future steps should be taken to ensure that overenthusiastic partitioning does not happen.

Dave Floyd ● 2668d

I have also been prevented from using the park which enabled me to walk my dog off lead on my way into work. I now have to get up an hour earlier to walk my dog elsewhere and then walk in to work along the road.It is effectively privitising the park and most definitely breaking the Rothschilds' covenants.The park is beginnning to look as it should after decades of neglect but much of that benefit will be lost if massive events are run back to back. Damage to the sward alone takes weeks to recover, not to mention the amount of work required to re-seed and, in the midst of a drought, there is the ever-present danger of fire.The noise from the weekend was audible in Stamford Brook and Grove Park. So, not only is the tranquility of the park denied to local taxpayers, they are denied it in their own homes.The amount of ragwort has been increasing at an alarming level this year but the only ragwort cut down (to enable vehicular access for the events, not to fulfil the council's obligation to clear it) was the patch that had a colony of cinnabar moth caterpillars on it.

Charlotte Kasner ● 2668d

I shy away from Gunns now, used to take the dog there every day. However in the last few months large sections fenced off.Im under the impression some great sports halls being built & parking will no longer be free.As for the festival the bloody disruption. Roads closed everywhere so a simple journey or delivery takes ages

Peter Yale ● 2670d

Their problem is that while they were able to renovate the Houses and the Orangery as a resultof grants, there are not going to be any grants for ongoing maintenance.  I'm no philistine,I've spent two many hours stood tranfixed bysome of the items in the Waddestone Bequest (Ferdinand Rothschild's "Cabinet Collection)in the British Museum for that too apply. Yet its hard not to think of all these renovations as little more than a vanity project, a vanity project moreover with little chance of generating any real income. From memory anywaythere's only so many times anyone would want to look at Lionel Rotschild's coach, a high spot of the Gunnersbury Collection at least the last time I was there.I may be completely wrong but I can't help suspecting that a lot of this "vulgarisation"of the park is a deliberate response to the effortsof groups such as the Friends of Gunnersbury Parkto resist all efforts to generate any income at all. Possibly by leasing the small mansionfor instance. As things stand as I see it, I don't think we canhave both. A "traditional" element which simply reflects the lifestyle and tastes of a 19th centurymillionaire,  nice though they may be, and maintaining acres of open parkland for 52 weeks a year.Thinking about it, one of the pleasures of theopen spaces in Gunnersbury Park is precisely howfew other people there are about most of the time.Which maybe tells its own story.michael adams

Michael Adams ● 2670d

There will not be rubbish will there. I thought people were fined for dropping litter. In the new world a park is a profit centre or that is what it looks like to me. When I say to people it used to be nice to sit in the park and read a book they say you must have been on drugs. Sitting in Boston Manor Park by the lake was a very pleasurable think to do. In the teenage years the park featured pretty big in life. All sadly a memory now.

Nicholas Beard ● 2670d

The kids just wanna dance....Fine by me - proper loud though, God knows what you did if you live on Lionel Road or Popes Lane!!!The music not for me and although I live close to it I don’t use Gunnersbury Park so cant comment on that. They did shutdown bang on 10:30pm in terms of loud music.The issues come now with 20,000 pizzed up and high on whatever all trying to get home. Good luck!!!In terms of the economy of putting this on - do the maths!! 20,000 paying £50 a pop, sponsorship, selling pitches for food and drink, selling merchandise etc. Then note it’s over two days and you’ve got maybe £2.5MILLION in turnover. The organisers will surely target 20% margin for that’s £600k EBIT. A nice lump of folding. The lucky swines!!!Rave on

Colin Goodman ● 2671d

I share Patricia's concerns about the likely damage to Gunnersbury Park in the wake of these festivals. The grass and trees are already suffering from the drought; the anticipated 40,000 festival goers and all the vehicle movements associated with the set-up and dismantling of the site will cause ecological damage to the natural fabric of the park that will take years to put right.It would be good to know how much money Ealing and Hounslow councils will be getting for hosting these events and also how much of that money then intend to spend on restoring the parkland.

Andrew Bond ● 2671d

They should be able to clear up quickly after the festival but sections of the park will be taken up by the Secret Cinema event for much longer. That's going to use the southern section of the park down by the cricket pavillion. It'll be closed to the public for around a month.

Dennis O'Shea ● 2671d

Having just checked the actual dates on the netas I probably should have done before, it isn't actually too bad. Well not a bad as it might have been.The Lovebox Festival is this Friday and Saturday.Yes this Friday. I had to do a double take to makesure this wasn't a Bank Holiday I'd somehow overlooked. While the Citadel Festival is on Sunday. So that's three days altogether with possibly all the sites successfully dismantled by next weekend.I think the pressure may come, should it happen from shortfalls in public transport provision - especially on a Friday, and the knock-on effects of the proposed road closures. The actual amount of kit involved and the labourhours involved in setting it all up and dismantling it all again does make you wonder how much profit there can really be in it all. It seem a very expensiveway for the organisers to go about things, it seems to me. Anyway one thing to be hoped and thankful for, fingers crossed is that the weather holds out so that the ground isn't churned up as happened on the Common after the circus. And is still much in evidence in terms of irregular grass cover, and plastic barrier which has yet to be removed.  I personally think the builders have requisitioned a far larger part of that north west corner thanis actually reqired for their operations. They'venow build their access road running parallel to Lionel Road North and I can see no reason for their not freeing up some of the area running parallel to Popes Lane. Whether the passage of heavy lorries via the Popes Lane car park entrance is responsible for the crack inthe twelve foot brick wall bordering the passage leading on from that entrance isn't something I feelqualified to comment on.michael adams....

Michael Adams ● 2672d

I don't think I own the Park at all. I recognise it's a public place for everyone to enjoy the oasis of 'nature' it offers in city life - a key aspect of the Rothschild's covenant. Yes, many thousands will enjoy this and other forthcoming events in the Park.  How you view this situation depends on how close you live to the Park, how frequently you use it and what you value. There are people like me who enjoy the Park 365 days; cold, windy or wet days when those attending the forthcoming events wouldn't consider being in Gunnersbury Park.

Patricia McCarthy ● 2672d

Killjoy.Thousands upon thousands are going to enjoy this. Why do you think you own the park?

Paul James ● 2672d

Exactly how many major events are there going to be in a year? Two? Three? Even if it's half a dozen, that's still around six weeks of disruption out of 52. At least 322 days when local residents will be able to enjoy the 'haven of tranquility' - probably many more. And in exchange, the council has the money to repair and upgrade the park so that it can provide joy to residents for many years to come.

Simon Deakin ● 2672d

The refurbished Large Mansion does look great and the dull old museum has been transformed.I am waiting to see how much disruption there is this weekend on the first of these new 'events'. The main problem is likely to be all the people who think that instructions to come by public transport apply to everybody but them.

Susan Kelly ● 2672d

The improvements to the park have made a huge difference and although I haven't been to the new museum it looks like a terrific addition to the area. I preferred the old cafe particularly given the cost of eating at the new one but if the profits are going to the park I can live with that. Festivals like Lovebox will give enjoyment to thousands of young people who normally wouldn't be in the park and you have to acknowledge the benefit of that. If the clear up leaves the park as it was and extra money is available for further improvements it is worth a little bit of disruption.

Gary Southern ● 2672d

Patricia McCarthy explained"I doubt the Rothschilds had this type of usage in mind when covenanting the park to local residents."Possibly not. The covenants specify use a a park or a public sports ground; but unfortunately any hope in that direction had probably already been dashed maybe half a century earlier, if not more, with the installation of the first bandstand in a public park somewhere.As a long term user, I never saw the need for any "improvement" myself. Basically to many the park is simply a group of large open spaces which simply require regular  mowing and any necessary work to the trees. Unfortunately the councils were also saddled with two, not particularly distinguished houses, an orangery and various follies which as they stood required regular maintenanace but could never generate any really useful income ;as any attempts at commercialisation, leasing etc appears to have always been met with stiff resistance. AIUI the current grants have financed the refurbishment but do not provide any funds for ongoing maintanence, which presumably must be met from other sources.  A devils advocate in such a situation might have contemplated selling  one or more of the houses back to the Rosthchilds providing this provided sufficient funds to maintain the remainder of the park in perpetuity.michael adams... 

Michael Adams ● 2672d