There is a lot of apprehension about the Ryde Town Council application for a Premises License for Eastern Gardens. A number of people are understandably worried about it becoming a 24/7 365 party venue.
Please let us put everyone’s mind at ease. It isn’t.
Currently Ryde Town Council lease Eastern Gardens from the Isle of Wight Council, pay for the upkeep of the land and, until now, have had very little say in what happens there.
We felt that should change.
The application for a Premises License allows us to arrange and allow events that we feel are of benefit to the wider community of Ryde. Without a Premises License everyone has to approach IWC for a Temporary Events Notice (TEN) which takes time and costs money. These are limited to 15 individual events totalling no more than 22 days.
With regular events such as IW Pride, Jack Up, The Classic Car Show and Love Mondays in the summer this essentially wipes out any possibility of putting on markets, children’s entertainment, or daytime summer-themed events. The Premises License allows us to do these types of things.
Ryde Town Council has no intention to, now or ever, directly sell alcohol. We already partner with local businesses on events at Eastern Gardens and will continue to do so. We will continue to support our local neighbours and can ensure that local businesses are included in areas such as logistics, security, and catering provision.
We believe that events at Eastern Gardens need the control that only a council based in the town can effectively provide. We will be able to ensure that toilet and bin facilities are suitable more easily.
We can also stipulate in agreements that the music volume is kept to a lower, agreed level rather than that managed by the Environment Health Office.
We believe that there are enough late-night music events on Eastern Gardens already and we ARE NOT looking to increase them.
We ARE looking to:
- Utilise Eastern Gardens for the community of Ryde.
- Speed up the paperwork associated with events at Eastern Gardens.
- Save money on the paperwork associated with Eastern Gardens.
- Allow a wider range of activities to take place on Eastern Gardens during Summer and weekend afternoons.
- Take greater control of one of Ryde’s key assets and run it in a way that benefits Ryde.
We understand that the standard wording of the application mentions specific allowances. In theory Ryde Town Council would be legally allowed to hold raves at Eastern Gardens every day of the year from 9am to 11pm.
We cannot hide that fact. We don’t actually hide anything; we invite anyone to come to our public meetings to see us in action. We are confident you will see that Ryde Town Council are a progressive, transparent team trying to improve Ryde for the community of Ryde.
This is one step towards that.
If you were hoping for a rave at Eastern Gardens on a snowy Thursday in January, then we are very sorry to dash your hopes.
If you are hoping for a local, responsible, inclusive, and properly managed approach to Eastern Gardens that takes into account local needs and creates a positive image for Ryde then you are in luck.