Cannabis Festival is POSTPONED
- Thread starter TeeJay
- Start date
farmerbarleymow
I'm Petee's spirit animal
TeeJay said:
I hope the magistrate or judge gave the council a right bollocking for wasting public funds in bringing the case, wasting court time, and for crass stupidity for ignorance of a national tradition dating back centuries in England. What fuckwits!
They give it a license every year and then every year they prosecute and lose. They also tried to prosecute the "Save Our World" festival one year as well. I think it might be one department that grants the license and another one that prosecutes, hoping for some kind of pay out, and just claiming for any stupid or petty thing they can think of. They do keep saying that it is 'purely an operational matter' it does make you wonder how they decide its worth it when the event is hardly any more of a disaster than the Lambeth Coutry Show or any of the mega-bucks corporate events the have on Clapham Common. And they don;t help their credibility by having to admit their either didn't have - or had 'lost' - their notebooks when called to give evidence in court. Or maybe the town hall dog had eaten it. I'm not sure. I have stopped asking what the whole story is behind what happened because the little I have heard I find kind of hard to believe. The Judge certainly didn't!
space-hopper
URBAN SPACE-MAN :D
donated and bumped,keep up the good work peeps 
see you there he says in full confidence that this event will come together
see you there he says in full confidence that this event will come togetherTeeJay said:They have got the event licensed in exactly the same location for the past six years. They have mkasses of experience. The only thing that has changed this year is that the council has suddenly increased the charges by a factor of about three.
What is charged has increased for everyone this year due to changes in licensing laws and who is responsible for them.
Councils being responsible for ALL licensing is being phased in over this year and this is bound to have an effect.
A number of events I normally go to every year will not happen this year due to the changes.
One event is carrying on but they have been charged £4000 instead of the £0 they have paid in the past.
(They can absorb the charge due to the ever increasing amount of beer being sold).
Sorry but could you explain this? This wasn't the reason lambeth parks department gave for how they came up with their figures, and in fact the licensing committee (ie the entertainment, trading and alcohol licenses) had no say in the amount that was being charged for "use of the park" at all, although they were interested and did ask questions about it. In fact the payment for this license was set at the 'reduced' rate Lambeth Regulatory Services. Tellingly, this department has statutory powers, and isn't headed up by a Conservative Cllr. Is this a coincidence?tobyjug said:
The parks department have saids to the organisers that the new charges are based somehow on 'the cost to lambeth of the event' and that the deposit was based on some kind of 'risk assessment' of the event. However, when they were asked for copies of both these costs (for example a description of what they were going to be spending the £7,000 fees on) and when they were asked for a copy of the 'risk assessment' they had supoosedly carried out, they have been unable to produce any kind of documents, figures or even a general description or summary.
I would love to know how they arrived at their figures. I actually suspect that they just regard the parks as an 'asset' and theior accountants have told them to charge as a high a hire charge/rent as they think they can get away with. They hire out Lambeth parks as locations for filming (eg I saw them do "The Bill" in Brockwell Park) and they hire them out to corporate events such as Stella Artoise "Screen on the Green" or Channel 4 'cricket screening' or whatever.
I don't object to Lambeth council charging a full commercial rate to hire out the park to corporate and money-making events, especially when the public are fenced out and need to pay for tickets to get into the event, and when the profits are going into the pockets of the organisers. Event when a free event is put on for the purposes of advertising - eg with the Stella "Film on the Common" it is fair enough to charge commercial rates, although the council should have discretion to reduce rates if they really feel the event would be a good thing to have in the borough.
I also don't object to anyone using the parks having to provide a deposit, to clean up the park and to repair any damage done by their event - or lose the deposit. I don't even think that events should damange the park even if they are paying rent or even if they sort it out afterwards, since I value the parks as public spaces and green spaces with environmental value that can't just be bashed around and then 'patched up'. Plants etc take more than one yearregorw properly and it is unacceptable for heavy vehicles to tear up the park of for tons of crap to be impacted into the grass. The issue however is that whereas for all these heavy-duty corporate events and probably for the funfairs etc with their exteremely heavty machinery, the council charges a 15% deposit and these events typically cause far more damage and mess than the annual cannabis festival.
Any way you look at this, you are left with the strong impression that Lambeth LibDems have deliberately written their new "rules", "policy" and "schedule of charges" in such a way as to be able to favour high-paying corporate events and basically freeze community and not-for-profit events out of local parks - probably on the specific instructions of the accountants whose number one objective is the fact that Lambeth is perpetually in the red. It is however a false economy to price out free events since the cannabis festival organisers have got another £70,000 worth of resources that they want to spend on the public. Lambeth are prepared to see this not spent on their residents unless they get their slice of money, yet they refuse to say what they need it for. Are they really going to have that many officers at the event and what will they be doing all day? And will they have their note books?
Blagsta said:
No they put on illegal parties because they don't want to comply with regulations.
I can still go to licenced three and sometime four day events and only pay between £10 and £20 a ticket.
I was at one such event in Cambridgeshire last week end, £15 a ticket, beer £1.60 a pint, excellent on site catering, decent toilets, showers, 14 bands and other entertainment. No police, no council officials and no complaints.
Hiring toilets costs more than licencing fees.
DJ Squelch
King Of Insides
Try putting something like that on with dance music and see how far you get. 
Pickman's model
sunset spires and twilight woods
i think that it's all bollocks. if i were organising the event (and i imagine there's scores of urbanites on their knees thanking a variety of deities i'm not) i'd emulate what the berliners did in the '60s. specifically the central committee of the roaming hash rebels. i feel you should be having a smoke-in sort of thing, maybe in st james park or green park or parliament square.TeeJay said:
have a look in (willi?) bommi baumann's book, "terror or love?" (aka "how it all began").
i believe that having yr do in some fairly out of the way london park makes it much more of an event for the cognescenti - having it large, public and central would imo make it a much better do. and if you said "turn up to st james pk with yr food etc" you'd save on everything bar the publicity.
frankly, fuck hiring a park, just have a sesh in one.
Blagsta said:
No need to be insulting. The vast majority of events I have been involved have not needed the raising of any cash at all. The tickets have all sold out months before the events.
The event I went to in Cambridgeshire last week was sold out by January, and an event I am going to in August was sold out in March.
There was an illegal event in West Cornwall last week and it looks as if the organisors better go to court with their toothbrushes as it seems they may be charged for offences under the Wildlife and Countryside act.
Trying to put a rave on, on a Site of Special Scientific Interest and destroying rare plants and disturbing nesting schedule 5 birds was not a wise move. (The fines are £2000 per plant, £2000 per bird, as well as a prison sentence).
Pickman's model
sunset spires and twilight woods
what's a schedule 5 bird?
DJ Squelch said:Try putting something like that on with dance music and see how far you get.
If you can find somewhere isolated enough so the daytime noise is under 60 decibels at the nearest habitation and the night-time noise less than 25 decibels at the nearest habitation (which is human rights legislation everyone seemed to be clamouring for until they found out it effects them) you should have no problems if you comply with the health and safety regulations everyone else has to.
Pickman's model
sunset spires and twilight woods
a link would be nice, so i know what things to avoid.tobyjug said:
i'm very lazy, or i'd google for it myself.
Pickman's model said:a link would be nice, so i know what things to avoid.
i'm very lazy, or i'd google for it myself.
I got my schedules mixed up, it is schedule 1 and the fines are £5000 per bird.
http://www.the-piedpiper.co.uk/th10a.htm
http://www.jncc.gov.uk/species/Legislation/protect/default.htm
hipipol
Peckham Wry
Rare Creatures
I doubt that there are many Schedule 5 birds in Brixton, but rarer still seems to a councellor who actually reflects the views of their voters.
The park was closed to all normal Lambeth residents last year for a weekend while fee paying types were allowed to prance about behind a high steel fence.
One of the events was an "Australasian Festival"
I'm not being in any way racist here but I have yet to discover a colony of threatened Aussies/Kiwis round here to need assistance on keeping up up their endangered way of life.
Also, walking through the park yesterday I find the grass is still full of bits of firework left over from the councils own 4th Nov fireworks party!!!!!! Perhaps they didn't pay for the clean up properly.
Last year, the week after the Cannabis Festival the park was CLEAN
The stuff the council does, still shit on the ground 6 months later.
Nuff said.
I doubt that there are many Schedule 5 birds in Brixton, but rarer still seems to a councellor who actually reflects the views of their voters.
The park was closed to all normal Lambeth residents last year for a weekend while fee paying types were allowed to prance about behind a high steel fence.
One of the events was an "Australasian Festival"
I'm not being in any way racist here but I have yet to discover a colony of threatened Aussies/Kiwis round here to need assistance on keeping up up their endangered way of life.
Also, walking through the park yesterday I find the grass is still full of bits of firework left over from the councils own 4th Nov fireworks party!!!!!! Perhaps they didn't pay for the clean up properly.
Last year, the week after the Cannabis Festival the park was CLEAN
The stuff the council does, still shit on the ground 6 months later.
Nuff said.
Just to tell everyone that the online donations seem to have picked up significantly since we put out this appeal. However, we will have to wait till Monday to find out from Access-all-areas to see what has been coming in over the weekend.
It is a little bit annoying that the South London Press got most of their facts wrong in their "festival going ahead, fees agree on" story on Friday but I suppose it is more free publicity for the event itself, even it does seem to undermine our appeal to get enough money by Tuesday (we have blagged an extra day from Parks).
I still feel that Peter Truesdale has a lot to answer for over all this. I just googled him and got some interesting background on his involvement with Esso/Exxon:
Peter Truesdale - Consultant.
Peter has wide experience in public and community affairs. Prior to joining The Corporate Citizenship Company he spent seven years managing Esso UK's community programme. By background, Peter is a human resources professional with significant expertise in conducting competitive salary surveys...Peter is a graduate of Oxford University in Modern History.
Re. "The Corporate Citizenship Company" - it seems like it is full of LibDems and its client list includes: American Express, Barclays, BP, BT, Chevron, Consignia, Deutsche Bank, Diageo, Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein, Esso
ExxonMobil, Ford Motor Company, GlaxoSmithKline, HSBC, KPMG, LASMO, Lucent Technologies, Marconi, Natwest, Nestlé, News International, Nike, Pfizer, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Procter & Gamble, Railtrack, Rio Tinto, Royal Bank of Scotland, Sainsbury's, Shell, Siemens, Tesco, Texaco, UBS, Unilever, Vivendi and Zurich Financial Services amongst others.
Not that this is relevanmt to anything really. Just thought people might be interested. Unfortunately I can't find any funny photos of the man posing with Widdecombe or anyone
It is a little bit annoying that the South London Press got most of their facts wrong in their "festival going ahead, fees agree on" story on Friday but I suppose it is more free publicity for the event itself, even it does seem to undermine our appeal to get enough money by Tuesday (we have blagged an extra day from Parks).
I still feel that Peter Truesdale has a lot to answer for over all this. I just googled him and got some interesting background on his involvement with Esso/Exxon:
Peter Truesdale - Consultant.
Peter has wide experience in public and community affairs. Prior to joining The Corporate Citizenship Company he spent seven years managing Esso UK's community programme. By background, Peter is a human resources professional with significant expertise in conducting competitive salary surveys...Peter is a graduate of Oxford University in Modern History.
Re. "The Corporate Citizenship Company" - it seems like it is full of LibDems and its client list includes: American Express, Barclays, BP, BT, Chevron, Consignia, Deutsche Bank, Diageo, Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein, Esso
ExxonMobil, Ford Motor Company, GlaxoSmithKline, HSBC, KPMG, LASMO, Lucent Technologies, Marconi, Natwest, Nestlé, News International, Nike, Pfizer, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Procter & Gamble, Railtrack, Rio Tinto, Royal Bank of Scotland, Sainsbury's, Shell, Siemens, Tesco, Texaco, UBS, Unilever, Vivendi and Zurich Financial Services amongst others.
Not that this is relevanmt to anything really. Just thought people might be interested. Unfortunately I can't find any funny photos of the man posing with Widdecombe or anyone
Good Luck Jayday Appeal And Organisers!!
I'm sure (in fact I know) that TeeJay, Shane and others have been franticly busy today, attempting to pull everything together.
I can only offer them support and crossed fingers on behalf of many many Urban regulars.
Good luck folks!! I know the key deadline is sometime today ...
When you have a minute, let us know the latest
<unsure emoticons>
I'm sure (in fact I know) that TeeJay, Shane and others have been franticly busy today, attempting to pull everything together.
I can only offer them support and crossed fingers on behalf of many many Urban regulars.
Good luck folks!! I know the key deadline is sometime today ...
When you have a minute, let us know the latest
<unsure emoticons>
Streathamite
ideological dogmatist
good luck Shane, it will be a tragedy if JayDay's f-ed
tobyjug-there has NEVER been any issue of JayDay NOT complying with H&S regs, or NOT clearing up.
what is at issue here is an incoming libDem administration wanting JayDay moved outa Lambeth, not having the balls to be honest about it, so trying to stymie it in this underhand manner.
NO other not-for-profit event gets charged these rates.
NO commercial event has been hit with an 80% deposit take in living memory. And NO event I can think of has been subjected to so much obstructrionist antics by Lambeth BC; or by any BC I'm aware of.
ffs, look at the facts involved
tobyjug-there has NEVER been any issue of JayDay NOT complying with H&S regs, or NOT clearing up.
what is at issue here is an incoming libDem administration wanting JayDay moved outa Lambeth, not having the balls to be honest about it, so trying to stymie it in this underhand manner.
NO other not-for-profit event gets charged these rates.
NO commercial event has been hit with an 80% deposit take in living memory. And NO event I can think of has been subjected to so much obstructrionist antics by Lambeth BC; or by any BC I'm aware of.
ffs, look at the facts involved
[at 7:54 this evening on the JayDay thread on the the Brixton forum]
I await updates through whitened knuckles ...
TeeJay said:
I await updates through whitened knuckles ...
Roll Up Rollup The Cannabis March And Festival Is Go
As of monday night we reckon we are **within reach** of the £5,300 we need to make the books balance and put on the festival and pay the contractors.
We are probably around £600 short with another £2,300 estimated in future benefits stalls, tea & flapjack stalls (see u at US Embassy thurs 6pm ish & mayday traf sq), but if the momentum keeps up then we reckon we should get the remainder in the next two weeks and in subsequent benefit parties.
What we still do need is **the deposit for use of Brockwell Park**, which our exulted reps in Lambuff Council have set at £5,000. So far we have £2,800...... ta to the poeple who have emptied their deposit a/c to loan the festival money for the deposit. Which comes back.
Also many thanks to people who have donated online via www.thecannabisfestival.co.uk. So far around £520 in online donations. And a big nod to people who are spreading the appeal message on other web forums. Hopefully it may make up for a sparse publicity budget. Will be interesting to see how many people turn up at noon Kennington Park sat 8 May.
It would be good to carry the momentum of local support into a more formal something for the future... we also have to get a non commercial rate next year.
Wierd wants & needs: two flatbed trucks to convey a sound system & drumming group through Brixton on the march.
ROLL UP ROLL UP CANNABIS MARCH AND FESTIVAL IS GO
As of monday night we reckon we are **within reach** of the £5,300 we need to make the books balance and put on the festival and pay the contractors.
We are probably around £600 short with another £2,300 estimated in future benefits stalls, tea & flapjack stalls (see u at US Embassy thurs 6pm ish & mayday traf sq), but if the momentum keeps up then we reckon we should get the remainder in the next two weeks and in subsequent benefit parties.
What we still do need is **the deposit for use of Brockwell Park**, which our exulted reps in Lambuff Council have set at £5,000. So far we have £2,800...... ta to the poeple who have emptied their deposit a/c to loan the festival money for the deposit. Which comes back.
Also many thanks to people who have donated online via www.thecannabisfestival.co.uk. So far around £520 in online donations. And a big nod to people who are spreading the appeal message on other web forums. Hopefully it may make up for a sparse publicity budget. Will be interesting to see how many people turn up at noon Kennington Park sat 8 May.
It would be good to carry the momentum of local support into a more formal something for the future... we also have to get a non commercial rate next year.
Wierd wants & needs: two flatbed trucks to convey a sound system & drumming group through Brixton on the march.
ROLL UP ROLL UP CANNABIS MARCH AND FESTIVAL IS GO
chegrimandi
associated with adultery
well done....the power of dope 'eh...... 
yay hope the weather is good....
yay hope the weather is good....
free spirit
more tea vicar?
i'm heavily involved in running newcastle community green festival, a 2day annual community environment, music and art festival for 8-10,000, with 4 stages of music + cinema, kids stuff, arts and crafts, stalls, etc. Basically sounds pretty similar to the canabis fest in size etc. All on the same weekend as the canabis festival.
We currently pay £450 license fee, £500 police, no park hire, no deposit etc. and funding of roughly £15-16000 from the council parks, arts and local area subcommittees, + additional funding form all over the place up to about £30k total per year.
We are a voluntary, consituted not for profit organisation with a 10 year track record of running the most diverse cultural event in the city, but we're
still essentially seen as being run by hippies. these fees / funding are
obviously based on track record, trust and the rocognition that free community organised events should be treated differently to profit orientated events. Luckily we've managed (through careful wording of stuff / managing not to be too contentious) to not be seen as politically controversial.
As far as i can see the only realistic explanation for your situation is the controversial political nature of the festival. I think our current experience of an event in the same country on the same date shows tobyjug's explanation of the increased fees to be utter bollocks. The licensing laws are changing, but this does not in any way justify these rediculous increased charges.
The council has discretion to charge fees for use of parks, clean up, licensing etc. but it should be able to justify these fees, and should be held ccountable for this justification. I hope those involved manage to hold this festival without risking their own livelihoods (i know what that feels like), and if the council refuse to backdown fom their ridiculous demands, that they campaign against them and stop them being elected again in the next elections - this is how democracy's meant to work i think...
If there are any supportive council officers / councillors then i reckon it might be worth arranging an emergency meeting with them to attempt to get them to use their influence to either reduce the charges / deposit, or use their budgets to help you meet the deposit (not as daft as it sounds, we had our
potential losses underwritten by one part of the council one year). Pull in favours, assert your influence, do what you need to do to make it happen - there must be people in power who will support you, use them.
good luck, fs
We currently pay £450 license fee, £500 police, no park hire, no deposit etc. and funding of roughly £15-16000 from the council parks, arts and local area subcommittees, + additional funding form all over the place up to about £30k total per year.
We are a voluntary, consituted not for profit organisation with a 10 year track record of running the most diverse cultural event in the city, but we're
still essentially seen as being run by hippies. these fees / funding are
obviously based on track record, trust and the rocognition that free community organised events should be treated differently to profit orientated events. Luckily we've managed (through careful wording of stuff / managing not to be too contentious) to not be seen as politically controversial.
As far as i can see the only realistic explanation for your situation is the controversial political nature of the festival. I think our current experience of an event in the same country on the same date shows tobyjug's explanation of the increased fees to be utter bollocks. The licensing laws are changing, but this does not in any way justify these rediculous increased charges.
The council has discretion to charge fees for use of parks, clean up, licensing etc. but it should be able to justify these fees, and should be held ccountable for this justification. I hope those involved manage to hold this festival without risking their own livelihoods (i know what that feels like), and if the council refuse to backdown fom their ridiculous demands, that they campaign against them and stop them being elected again in the next elections - this is how democracy's meant to work i think...
If there are any supportive council officers / councillors then i reckon it might be worth arranging an emergency meeting with them to attempt to get them to use their influence to either reduce the charges / deposit, or use their budgets to help you meet the deposit (not as daft as it sounds, we had our
potential losses underwritten by one part of the council one year). Pull in favours, assert your influence, do what you need to do to make it happen - there must be people in power who will support you, use them.
good luck, fs
Thanks for that freespirit, I was starting to worry that people would come back and say we were getting a bargain or something! Could I ask what the local authority is where you are holding the event? It would help if we could use it as an example and ask Lambeth why they don't behave like that (by PM if you'd prefer).
You are right about voting them out tho': Smoke Green? Vote Green!
(although credit to those councillors who *have* voiced support for the license and the reduced fee - I will do a list for everyone when I have some more time.)
Could I ask what the local authority is where you are holding the event? It would help if we could use it as an example and ask Lambeth why they don't behave like that (by PM if you'd prefer). You are right about voting them out tho': Smoke Green? Vote Green!
(although credit to those councillors who *have* voiced support for the license and the reduced fee - I will do a list for everyone when I have some more time.)
Thanks for that freespirit, I was starting to worry that people would come back and say we were getting a bargain or something! Could I ask what the local authority is where you are holding the event? It would help if we could use it as an example and ask Lambeth why they don't behave like that (by PM if you'd prefer).
You are right about voting them out tho': Smoke Green? Vote Green! (this is soley my *personal* view btw)
(although credit to those councillors who *have* voiced support for the license and the reduced fee - I will do a list for everyone when I have some more time.)
Could I ask what the local authority is where you are holding the event? It would help if we could use it as an example and ask Lambeth why they don't behave like that (by PM if you'd prefer). You are right about voting them out tho': Smoke Green? Vote Green!
(this is soley my *personal* view btw)(although credit to those councillors who *have* voiced support for the license and the reduced fee - I will do a list for everyone when I have some more time.)
