Resident’s application to host Notting Hill Carnival party thrown out by council

By Ben Lynch, Local Democracy Reporter

A West London resident wanting to host a Notting Hill Carnival party, in part to celebrate her cancer remission, has had her application to the council thrown out.

Andreen Irving had applied to play music to up to 60 people in her front garden and to sell alcohol both on and off her premises on the Sunday and Monday of Carnival this year.

But, concerns were raised by the Met, which noted in its submission to Kensington and Chelsea council that the event would likely cause crowds to congregate outside Ms Irving’s home.

PC Alexandra Wyatt referenced a previous year in which someone climbed on top of a bus shelter to dance to music coming from her property.

The Met’s position was supported by the council’s noise and nuisance team, whose Principal Environmental Health Officer, Keith Mehaffy, wrote he had personally seen in 2022 ‘persons dancing on top of the bus shelter at your gate’.

In emails to the council, Ms Irving wrote she has hosted a series of Carnival events over 14 years living in the area. She added that during that time she has had no crowd issues.

Ms Irving also wrote in her application that her proposed event would be to celebrate ‘carnival and my cancer remission’.

At a Kensington and Chelsea Licensing Sub-Committee meeting earlier this week, the Met’s legal counsel, James Rankin, and Mr Mehaffy made clear the primary concern was Ms Irving’s request for ‘regulated entertainment’.

Their objections were specifically due to fears over the loud music Ms Irving was looking to play from speakers on her first-floor balcony. 

Ms Irving wrote in her application that only her friends and family would be granted access to the event.

But, Mr Mehaffy said that when he had asked Ms Irving at a previous event whether she was monitoring what was going on outside her home, she was ‘oblivious’.

He said: “It’s a very dangerous thing for her to do, and if you have crowd crushing or any form of disruption of crowd movement then there’s always a possibility of people falling and an unsafe situation arising, and she didn’t seem to even be concerned about that when I spoke with her.”

In a session later the same day, Kensington and Chelsea council also heard a request for a Ladbroke Grove takeaway to sell booze to up to 499 people during the Carnival, which it also refused.

The committee denied Morteza Akbarabadi’s application for a Temporary Event Notice (TEN) for Red Planet Pizza over concerns about the premises’ location along the main Carnival route.

It emerged during the meeting that Mr Akbarabadi had not intended for almost 500 people to attend at once, but had simply opted for what he believed to be the maximum allowance.

PC Perry told the committee that, even if the application was for fewer people, the police would still oppose due to concerns about crowding. 

The takeaway’s location near to a St John’s Ambulance treatment centre also poses a risk, he added. 

Notting Hill Carnival is on over the coming Bank Holiday Weekend, from August 24 to 26. This year will be its 56th outing.

Pictured top: Family and friends enjoying Carnival on in August 2023 (Picture: Yui Mok/PA Wire)