A new dance festival showcasing electronic music could be coming to an east London park this summer with Annie Mac and Carl Cox as possible headliners. Percolate Entertainment LTD has applied for a new premises license with Barking and Dagenham Council to allow it to host a “unique performance installation” at Barking Park.
According to Percolate’s application, the event would run from Friday 31st May to Sunday 2nd June this year, running from noon to 10.30pm on the first two days and from 12pm to 10pm on Sunday; although a separate council document says Percolate has applied for a premises license for three days over two weekends between May 1 and September 30.
Percolate has said in its application that the festival would create an immersive natural space that is like “nothing ever seen in a London park before” and the capacity would range from 6,999 to 7,999 people per day. Possible headliners for Friday would be Four Tet, Jamie Jones and Mall Grab while Saturday’s line-up could see ANOTR, Martinez Brothers and Patrick Topping play and Annie Mac, Carl Cox and Above & Beyond could be possible headliners for Sunday.
Percolate works with Lucid Creates, a creative design company that has been responsible for installations at Glastonbury Festival, Creamfields, Parklife, Boomtown as well as for brands such as Adidas, Google, New Balance and Asics. The festival’s working title is ‘Function Form’ and would be held in the woods of Barking Park complete with ethereal lighting and mirrored pillars would be installed amongst the trees.
Percolate has said residents living nearby would be entitled to a range of community benefits and are welcome to enjoy the installation for free during the week. The application mentions that residents could get early access to tickets that would be sold at a price “unique” to them.
Percolate has been looking at ways to give money back to local charities and the environment, including adding a £1 “reset” fee to each ticket that would be paid back to the park once the three-day event has taken place. Meanwhile, £5 would be added to the guest list’s tickets which would go to a local organization supporting “children’s musical productions”.
During its consultation stage, the plans received an objection from Louise Chappell, who raised concerns about the impact the festival could have on wildlife. She said: “Holding the event in this area will be very detrimental to the park environment.
“The park is an important part of the community for families, runners, walkers, dog walkers and people young and old, this event will effectively make it off limits to all these users during the planned events.” In response to Chappell’s concerns, Percolate said most of the site would be “fenced off” from the public and would be away from brushy areas.
Percolate went on to say that the soccer fields, splash park, bowls club and cafe would remain open to the public while the event was taking place and that they would “do (their) best” to minimize disruption to park users and residents living nearby. A detailed noise management plan has also been provided by the environmental health team at the council and police have proposed adding a CCTV system during the event. The plans will be heard at a meeting of the council’s licensing sub-committee next week (Wednesday 21 February).
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