Worries about noise impact from Caribbean festival

File image - organisers plan to stage a colourful parade through Coventry city centre, similar to Notting Hill

A neighbour has raised concerns about a new festival centred on Caribbean culture.

The Caribbean Reggae Fever event is due to be held at Coventry's War Memorial Park on the weekend of 20 July.

Organisers have applied for a licence to put on entertainment including live music and serve alcohol at the event for three days from 11:00 BST to 22:00, but a single local resident has written to the council, worried that it might cause them inconvenience.

Festival organisers said the event will only cover two days, with music only played until 20:30 on Saturday and the event closing at 21:00.

There would only be low-level music and no alcohol on Sunday, they said.

Council officials have backed the proposals, saying organisers had prepared a comprehensive operating plan and conditions which would prevent it being a nuisance – with a final decision due to be made on 16 July.

The neighbour, who asked to remain anonymous over concerns of a backlash on social media, claimed the event’s licence application did not include details of how locals will be kept from being inconvenienced by music from the event.

“I can attest that it is extremely difficult to play loud music in the park without it inconveniencing the neighbouring properties,” they said in their submission.

They said that every room in their house was filled with noise during the Godiva Festival, and that made it impossible to enjoy things like listening to the radio or watching TV.

“This makes for a highly stressful environment,” they said.

'Highly stressful'

The resident believed the new festival would inflict further such stress for them, just a few weeks after the Godiva Festival, which took place from 5 to 7 July at the park.

Their letter continued: “Given the cumulative nature of the stress caused by intrusive noise, this would be exceedingly hard to bear.”

The new festival is backed by Coventry City Council and the West Midlands Combined Authority and is billed as an annual celebration of Caribbean Culture.

It was awarded £250,000 in Commonwealth Games legacy funding earlier this year.

Organisers say it will showcase the contribution the community has made to the cultural and economic growth of the city whilst reflecting Coventry’s status as a city of peace and reconciliation.

The festival is due to begin with a parade through the city centre, and it will include attractions such as a funfair, stalls, a football tournament, music stages and a Windrush exhibition.

Coventry council officers have recommended a licence should be granted for the event, citing conditions to prevent public nuisance.

The city council’s licensing committee will have the final say on 16 July.

This news was gathered by the Local Democracy Reporting Service which covers councils and other public service organisations.