An application has been submitted to enable a large music event to be held at the Jim Evison Playing Fields on Altrincham Road.
Stockport based SJM, one of the largest concert promoters in the UK, have applied for a licence to hold a maximum of two events between 20th May 2023 and 15th August 2023 which will be take place over a maximum of two consecutive days. The provisional date is 8th July and organisers expect there to be up to 25,000 attendees each day.
The opening hours will be from 4pm to 10.30pm on both Friday and Saturday with the provision for showing films, both live and recorded music, the performances of dance and supply of alcohol (for consumption on the premises only) during those times with sound checks taking place from 10am each day.
SJM state they will operate a strict challenge 25 policy at the bars, no drinks will be served on glasses, bottles or cans, and all under 14s must be accompanied by an adult. There will be a stage, bar areas, toilets and food concessions within the enclosed site and admission will be by ticket with security to control the entry.
Cheshire East Council has received forty letters of objection from local residents.
Concerns raised include:
- Public safety due to lack of off-road parking and congestion on Altrincham Road
- Site is too far from centre of Wilmslow for many people to walk
- Selling of alcohol will lead to anti-social behaviour, crime and disorder
- Noise and nuisance to neighbouring residents
- Impact on land used by for sporting events during daylight hours, litter
The Licensing Act Sub-Committee will discuss the licence application for the Jim Evison Playing Fields at their meeting on Monday, 30th January.
Comments
Here's what readers have had to say so far. Why not add your thoughts below.
- This is likely to be a "one off" event.
- It is not a council run event and the council is not part of the application.
- As it's not a council event, no public consultation was required. Instead the Licence Hearing acts as the public consultation.
- I requested this licencing hearing and will be attending it.
- I have been told this application is for a concert by a head line act (ie not tribute bands) with close ties to Wilmslow. They specifically want to hold a concert in Wilmslow and Jim Evison is the largest potential facility available. The acts name is being kept secret (even from me) until any agreement is reached.
- Cheshire East allows large public events run by other bodies on Carnival Fields and The Carrs. Therefore, there is a clear precedent to allow event on playing fields like Jim Evision.
- The other events are not on this scale though and managing a potential crowd of 25,000 people raises serious concerns.
- My key concerns are transport, parking and public safety, which are missing from the application. However, the applicants are now working with the Cheshire Police Events Team and Cheshire East Environmental Health to establish how they could be addressed and what a safe capacity could be.
- There is no parking on Jim Evison but Waters next door may allow their car park to be used or the numerous farm fields nearby could be another option.
- Parking could also be temporarily banned from the surrounding roads to minimise local disruption.
- Any money raised from this event goes into the councils general funds. The same happens for all other events on council land. The money plays no part in the decision making process though. It would be illegal to do so.
- Yes, the playing fields might get damaged. But last year Cheshire East, the FA and the Premiere League invested £200,000 in new ground maintenance machinery, which would rectify any damage caused. Premiere league football stadiums (eg Old Trafford and The Etihad) regularly hold summer concerts and the grass soon recovers.
- We hope to improve the current parking and changing facilities at Jim Evison and are already investigating how best to do this. It will likely involve further funding from the football community and / or Sport England.
- The businesses in Wilmslow are very supportive of this application, which could be the biggest event the town has ever known.
Therefore, I am going along to the hearing with an open mind to see how the concerns can be addressed and how disruption can be minimised. The legal process is quite clear though and the police and environmental health will decide the outcome based on their experience and expertise in assessing these sort of events.
Cllr Mark Goldsmith
Residents of Wilmslow
Wilmslow West & Chorley
The meeting will start at 10:00am and be held at the offices of Cheshire East Council at
Westfields
Middlewich Road
Sandbach
CW11 1HZ
All of the relevant documents can be found at https://tinyurl.com/4hcty384
I recently commented on this on Facebook with regard to the “event” and how “Furious Old People” do not like change and disruption anywhere near them.
Some things to remember
We were all young once and enjoyed things - except “furious old people” who were younger but still furious
It’s a 2 day event - it’s not forever
I will bring revenue to many local businesses shops / hotels / coffee shops (of which “Furious Old People” think there are too many of in Wilmslow BTW)
There are probably more people who want to go than there are “Furious Old People” who don’t
If the “event” happens to be that nice Michael Buble or maybe that lovely Aled Jones many “Furious Old People” will become less “Furious” and and actually want to attend.
There will be some disruption but remember but its not forever it’s two days - and if you do not like it maybe go on holiday while it’s on and you will never know it happened except for all the people do did go, telling you how fantastic it was.
If someone wants to invest in Wilmslow even just for two days, it’s a good thing, it puts Wilmslow on the map, more businesses might want to open here more people might want to live here.
When “Furious Old People” complain about change and disruption, goods things don’t happen and everybody looses.
I’ve been in wilmslow for over 13 years now. The Wilmslow anti anything crew object to most things. Car washes, new housing, takeaways, 24 hour gyms, cafes, coffee shops, pubs… you name it. They adopt a negative stance with a venomous and intellectually fought argument(s) using our wonderfully archaic outdated, inefficient, anti growth planning rules/laws. The irony is - even the useless planning process dismisses most of the nimby anti growth rhetoric. Some of these any anything crew ..::appear to be stuck in 1950s. Change is hard. I hope it’s approved.
I wonder why Ryan Dance moved here 13 years ago....apparently he wants to change it anyway! I arrived here 67 years ago, a nice large village feel to the place, a wide variety of excellent shops, good efficient local services (Wilmslow Urban District Council) and sports facilities, private and state schools, an eclectic population mix and plenty of industrial and commercial opportunities within easy well served (rail and bus) commuting distance of Manchester, Stockport, Altrincham and Macclesfield (plus more locally Avro at Woodford and ICI Pharma in Wilmslow/Alderley); plenty of open spaces (a lovely natural wildspace 'common' nurtured and valued by the community), busy roads but not clogged and sufficient parking (for a well-healed kind of spot that probably had more cars per capita than comparable communities 2-3 times it's size) - and biggest concert that I can recall was circa 2 500 at the local rugby club (and TWO headline groups too) - what's not to like!
As a member of the Cheshire East Council Licensing sub-committee I can confirm that the applicant for the Jim Evison Fields music event has withdrawn his application.
The meeting scheduled for Monday 30 January at Sandbach has now been cancelled.
Cllr Iain Macfarlane
Wilmslow West & Chorley