A south London music conservatoire has complained about a festival headlined by Tom Jones next door - because it was too noisy.
Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance has urged the council to cancel the operator’s licence for the Greenwich Summer Sounds festival hosted at the Old Royal Naval College, saying it breached noise limits.
This year’s festival between July 4-8 was headlined by Nile Rogers, Sir Tom Jones, the Black Eyed Peas, and the Kaiser Chiefs.
The arts facility, that offers courses in music, dance and musical theatre, and where graduates include choreographer Sir Matthew Bourne, claims that noise levels during Sir Tom Jones’s, Nile Rogers’ and the Black Eyed Peas’ set up and performances exceeded an allowed limit of 65 decibels, and that sound checks took place earlier than allowed.
It has called on Greenwich Council to revoke International Management Group’s licence for the event, which puts on the festival.
In a submission to the council, Trinity Laban director of estates Phil Harding said the conservatoire was forced to reschedule open days which coincided with the festival directly next door to avoid “a major adverse impact on the viability of our organisation”.
He wrote: “As soon as we became aware of the event’s timing we requested that the site owners, the Greenwich Foundation, rescheduled to a week or two later, by which time the academic term would have ended and the detrimental impact significantly diminished.
“This request was denied. We had also advised the Foundation of the timing of our annual open days and despite the prior notification, they chose that particular week for the festival.”
“It is unacceptable for Trinity Laban Conservatoire’s essential educational activities to be disrupted in this way and we would hope that Royal Borough of Greenwich would support that view,” Mr Harding added.
External noise levels reached up to 95 decibels during the acts, compared to an agreed limit of 65 decibels, according to a report commissioned by Trinity Laban.
The Standard has contacted International Management Group for comment.
Greenwich Council’s noise team told councillors it had received no formal noise complaints from residents about the event.
A resident who commented on the application said the event disturbed “my peace to some degree, especially as I am an early riser and tend to go to bed before the events end,” but added noise levels were better controlled than they had been in previous years.
Trinity Laban shares campus space at the Old Royal Naval College, where the festival was held, with the University of Greenwich.
The review application is set to be decided at a hearing on October 16.
