Скейт-парк в Манчестере признали опасным после хаоса на музыкальном фестивале

Manchester skatepark branded ‘unsafe’ after event which descended into chaos Details were shared in a licensing hearing. An event at a Manchester skatepark was slammed for being ‘unsafe’ after descending into chaos with people ‘scaling fences’ and ‘forcibly pulling apart barriers’. Projekts MCR hosted an externally promoted music event on May 29 based at its skatepark located under the Mancunian Way. It was planned to hold up to 1,000 guests but more than 2,000 tickets were issued in total, leading to ‘large crowds’ of people turning up in scenes which ‘very quickly proved to be dangerous’. Click here to get the biggest stories straight to your inbox in our Daily Newsletter Greater Manchester Police (GMP) said the event was ‘poorly planned, poorly managed, and unsafe’ for those who turned up, while the council’s licensing and out of hours team said the event led to noise complaints. Details from the event were shared at a Manchester council licensing meeting on Tuesday (September 1). In a statement published on the council’s website, GMP said: “The event saw 2,000 tickets issued for an event that had been risk assessed and planned for around 1,000 people. The over issuing of tickets was a conscious decision of both the venue management and the promoters. “The obvious risks in this course of action could be seen by any lay person and very quickly proved to be dangerous, with refused ticket holders climbing over the perimeter fences to gain entry.” Pictures from the event published in the council report showed people trying to scale fences trying to get inside. As the event escalated on May 29, a decision was made to stop the music and call the police 'in an attempt to regain control of the situation'. John Haines from Projekts MCR said the ‘vast majority’ of events at the venue are ‘safe and well managed’, saying: “We want to be good neighbours at the core of our community, we do not close the skatepark lightly.” He added: “The promoter went against our agreement, they issued somewhere between 2,000 and 2,500 tickets to the event that was organised. “Once that problem became apparent, I believe that Projekt’s management team responded quickly and responsibly. We closed the event within an hour, maintained detailed incident logs, stayed in constant contact with the security team, and liaised with GMP and the licensing and out of hours team, both during the event and after.” At the licensing hearing, Projekts asked to make several changes to its premises license which it said would help it with organising safe events - but GMP said the suggestion amounted to ‘watering down’ the licensing safeguards already in place. Both GMP and Manchester council’s licensing and out of hours team objected to the request. One of the changes asked for by the venue which was rejected was a request to reduce the notice period required to be given to GMP for events organised by an external promoter, from 28 days to 14 days for any events with more than 500 people. Several other requests by Projekts MCR were granted though, which included removing duplicated conditions.