We first raised concerns with B&NES about the safety of the 2022 Bath Carnival site on Sydney Gardens in July 2022, and made a number of requests for consultation by the organiser over subsequent months. We are pleased the licence process gave the opportunity for the safety concerns to be considered, and that this year’s event will be safer for all as a result of Conditions required by the Committee.
These include making the monitoring of numbers of people mandatory at all entrances to the Premises, instead of the selected locations previously monitored, and requiring improved signage and information-sharing on-site to facilitate incident-reporting.
As noted by the Committee Chair, it is regrettable we had not been consulted earlier thereby avoiding the need for the hearing. Input by local people who know the site so much better would have allowed easy correction of mistakes arising from basic misunderstandings of the layout of Sydney Gardens.