ESAG - I think stands for 'Event Safety Advisory Group'. It is a joint group involving the Council and Police representatives. It approves Event Management Plans for major events and its powers extend to considering the impact on the wider area and mitigating actions as well as the events themselves.

There was a great deal of comment on numbers from all parties and it was clear that there was very little hard information on how many people had actually attended events in the past with very differing figures being given to different people at different times. It was claimed by the Museum that there were people counters on all entrances to the Gardens although none of the objectors seemed to be aware of them. It was also stated that there could be up to 2000 people in the Museum at busy times, a figure which seems remarkably high.

The limitation to 10,000 people was stated to have been made because of the uncertainty about numbers in the past.

Many of the objectors were concerned about the impact of car parking and traffic on the area. The Council's licencing officer said that whether the impact of car parking was a valid consideration in granting the licence was a grey area in law. However, it, and the associated traffic, will clearly be a valid consideration for ESAG.

Incidentally, although the licence has been granted subject to the previously mentioned conditions, there is an opportunity for the Horniman (or the objectors) to appeal - I think they said in the next 28 days.