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Kenwood concerts blame-game begins
English Heritage accused by Town Hall chiefs
THE Town Hall is being unfairly scapegoated for the loss of this year’s Kenwood concerts, according to senior figures at Camden Council.
As more that 8,500 concert fans signed a petition urging the Town Hall’s licensing chiefs to review its conditions, Council Leader Keith Moffitt accused Kenwood guardians English Heritage of being “disingenuous” by cancelling the season.
He said: “They had an application which was turned down by a licensing committee and that was later upheld by a licencing court.
“I think it’s fair to say that we are being scapegoated. English Heritage are a huge organisation and they must know the rules. Basically we look at the information before us and hear what the applicant has to say and we have to take all these things into account.”
Cllr Moffitt added that he would be happy to meet with concert chiefs to discuss the concerts but refused to given any guarantees that licensing chiefs could meet English Heritage’s demands.
He said: “I cannot speak for the people who might be sitting on the panel. And the public support for the concerts does not change the fact that the ball is in English Heritages’s court.
“They have got the existing licence, which they can run with. Their alternative is to make a new application. If they want to talk to us about the sort of application that might be more successful then we would be happy to do that.”
English Heritage cancelled this year’s Kenwood concerts last week blaming the council’s decision to slash the season from ten to eight concerts after complaints from “a small number of local objectors” for making the season “financially unviable”.
An English Heritage spokeswoman this week ruled out any possibility of the concerts returning to Kenwood this year but said that organisers were “keen to work closely with Camden Council to try and bring back the concerts in 2008”.
She added: “We appreciate that Camden have to take the views of local residents into account. The petition demonstrates that a significant number of local people do support the concerts. We very much hope that we can come up with a solution that meets the needs of both local people and English Heritage’s desire to continue this 55-year tradition.”
Asked whether English Heritage would be introducing charges at Kenwood House to make up the shortfall from the concerts, she said: “We are currently looking at a number of options to make up the funding shortfall and we will be making an announcement about it in the next month.”
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