Dear friends,
A petition is attached which you can print off and collect signatures, and I am sure that anyone who was in Leyton or west Walthamstow last June will remember the dreadful racket that was made all weekend by a massive "pop" festival on Hackney Marshes, staged by BBC Radio One with the blessing of Hackney Council.
The booming, repetitive bass was so annoying that, despite the warm summer evening, a friend and I spent the evening sitting indoors at her flat in Walthamstow - over two miles away - with all the windows shut; and even through the double glazing the thump, thump, thump was almost intolerable. The screamed announcements between annoying, bass booms by someone who sounded like a demented football commentator, were even more penetrating. (What it was doing to the hearing of anyone actually attending the concert is anyone's guess!)
I am sure anyone who normally enjoys a quiet Summer weekend relaxing on and around the Marshes would have been extremely irritated too. There are plenty of places around the lower Lea Valley that such loud events can be held; our marshes simply are not a suitable venue!
Frantic calls to Hackney Council last year were met by a recorded message saying the switchboard was shut until Monday. There was no information as to how to contact the borough's noise enforcement team, or anyone else who could get the sheer volume turned down. Afterwards, Hackney Council were contacted with vast numbers of complaints - mostly about the mess made of Hackney Marshes, the closing off of the area to local residents, the ruining of sports areas particularly a cricket pitch, disruption to wildlife, and noise. Over three-quarters of the complaints about the constant, loud, thumping noise came from residents of Leyton and Walthamstow - we live directly downwind of where the event on Hackney Marshes took place, and it was Leyton and the areas in the Lea Valley that suffered.
Despite all these complaints, and the cost of clearing up the mess and damage afterwards, Hackney Council have decided to give themselves permission to hold three such events on the Marshes EVERY YEAR from this year onwards. This decision has provoked such a storm of protest from Hackney residents and lovers of the Lea Valley Marshes that they have been forced to consult with local people, and the decision has been sent to the (national) Planning Inspectorate for approval. You can read about the proposals and take part in the consultation here :- http://www.hackney.gov.uk/hackney-marshes-consultation.htm.
Both those petitions concentrate on the environmental damage these events would cause, and the restriction of access to the Common Lands of Hackney Marshes for local residents. But neither mention the appalling noise levels that ruined so many people's weekend last year on this side of the Lea. I am therefore attaching a separate "NIMBY" petition that I have drawn up for residents of Waltham Forest to sign, complaining specifically about the noise nuisance that would be caused to us, living in the neighbouring borough to the north-east of the proposed events site, should the proposals go ahead.
Please feel free to download this, print as many as you like, and collect signatures on! Please return the petittion forms either to The Mill (former St James Library) in Coppermill Lane, Walthamstow, or to the Hornbeam Centre cafe on Hoe Street, near the Bakers' Arms crossroads at Leyton Green. I will be picking them up on Saturday the 13th April, so you have two weeks to get signatures!
Many thanks for your help - and please send this on to anyone else who may be interested in signing the two petitions from HMUG and SLM or in collecting local signatures in Waltham Forest.
Katy Andrews.
