Plans for a music festival in a park have sparked fears over noise and drunkenness from revellers.

On Tuesday (May 21) Croydon Council's licensing committee considered plans for Family Fun Day and Music Festival in Norbury Park on August 3 and 4.

Jamaica Basic Schools Foundation has applied for a licence to host the event for the second year in a row.

Lisa Patient, of the Friends of Norbury Park group, spoke in opposition to the festival. 

She said: “Our concerns relate to the fact that this is a highly residential area and that this event is located literally feet from the back gardens of the residents of Green Lane.

“We feel it’s a real nuisance for them to have to live with this event over the weekend.”

The event has run for the last 29 years in different locations, but Ms Patient said that there had been “inadequate supervision” at the event in recent years.

She questioned whether sufficient checks on health and safety had been carried out at previous events. 

She added: “There’s a lot of huge lorries carrying barriers, all sorts of equipment which arrived at 2am last year to set up, which woke up the whole neighbourhood, and there was no supervision from the council or the organisers of the event.

“There was no signage in place to direct the people setting up the event.

“They didn’t know which road to use, or which gate to enter in, and it was all left to the Norbury volunteers to sort that out.”

Ms Patient added that there was “very inadequate clearing up” after the event and it took residents “several weeks” to pick up bits of metal that had fallen from gates that surrounded the event.

Ms Patient argued that the area outside the event is used by those who don’t hold a ticket but still listen to the music and drink in the park. She added that organisers don't clear up outside the park. 

She also said that the sound level had not been monitored and was “pretty horrible” for everyone who lives around Norbury.

Jenni Rodgers, who lives directly behind Norbury Park, said that even though the event ends at 9pm, the music goes on past midnight.

She added: “The people in the park are there with their radios and their barbecues, and they stay until gone midnight, which was a real nuisance.”

She said there had been a lot of “aggression” from people who park outside of residents’ homes and pressed for there to be “proper signage directing cars to the public car park" at this year's event.

Organiser Josephine Williams-Brown said: “I totally disagree with the objections made by the Friends of Norbury.”

She added: "There can be no litter on the ground in and around the area whatsoever.

“I also disagree that they are the only ones that monitor the park, as we have people from the council monitoring the park the whole weekend.”

She said that organisers “try their best” to keep the noise level at its limit, but understood the parking issue.

She said that she and the organisers blocked off Hayfield Road and that entry to the park had been moved by the council in 2023 in order to not disturb the neighbours.

She claimed that residents have told her that they don’t mind the music noise levels, citing that it is “just a day".

Ms Williams-Brown denied that the event has ever gone on past midnight, saying: “People are not barbecuing in the park until 12am.

“If you are going to object, please object with real objections and not made-up ones.

“We will abide by whatever rules the council and the police have given us.

“It has always been my intention to abide by those rules and make sure that the people are not disturbed by any significant amount.”

Ms Williams-Brown added that since it was an event there would naturally be a “little disturbance".

She also denied that anybody ever came to set up at 2am, and promised that her team would set up no earlier than 8am this year.

Cllr Danielle Denton said that cleaning up the area would be crucial given the danger of glass bottles, especially when revellers are intoxicated. 

Ms Williams-Brown said: “We will go beyond the call of duty to clear up the area,” and emphasised that there will be “extra security this year as it is a two-day event".

She added: “It is not my intention to disrupt residents.”

She said that there will be between 40 and 50 Service Industry Authority (SIA) bodies who will check bags.

Chairwoman Cllr Cummings concluded that the committee would return with a decision by May 29.