On Saturday 26 and Sunday 27 May Durham Pride has again been given permission from the Council to have its event on The Sands.

After last year’s event we received numerous complaints, mainly about the noise from the music stage.

The Licence Hearing for this year’s event was 16 May. Both of us sent submissions to the Licencing Panel setting out the concerns raised by residents about last year’s event, and David attended the meeting.

Pride is a very successful event and shows Durham to be the inclusive place we want our city to be. However we do not believe The Sands is the right location as the site is too near residential areas and because the number likely to attend is so very high. 10,000 are expected this weekend, with the event becoming bigger every year.

Our main concern for this year’s event was noise management. Last year noise levels were recorded at 100 decibels when the safe level according to Environmental Health is 65. Last year, council officers were not in attendance to monitor noise and as a result be able to ensure noise compliance. This was not acceptable and we are therefore pleased that we have persuaded the council to have Environmental Health officers on site. We are pleased that the event’s organisers acknowledged the residents’ concerns at the Licencing Panel from last year and that this year there will be changes.

We also raised highway issues as last year cars were apparently parked all over the estate. This year the organisers have said they will have signs up saying that Wearside Drive, Ferens Place, Ferens Park and Orchard Drive are residents only parking. We did ask that the council’s Parking Enforcement Officers should work on the Sunday but unfortunately this has not been agreed to. Without the staff patrolling there remains the possibility that event attendees may still end up parking illegally. The police have long maintained that they will not issue parking tickets unless the highway is being obstructed and that parking issues are for the council (which does not employ staff after 6pm on Sundays)!

Longer term we believe that, as with the the Miners’ Gala, Durham University Racecourse is a better location for the event, particularly as it is so well attended. We will be pursuing this further.

This year’s event will have a funfair and picnic on the Saturday and funfair, stalls, beer tent, music stage and other activities on the Sunday. Both days events will start at 1.00 pm and last until early evening.

Thankfully for all of us, ‘Jedward’ are not performing this year!

If you are attending the event we hope you have a great time.

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