Request ID: FOI-0270-2324 Date published: 23 May 2023
You asked
Dear FOI team,
This is a freedom of information request under The Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) regarding the Gunnersbury park and the large scale commercial music events held there by Gunnersbury CIC's effects on the TFL network in the surrounding area (Acton Town, Gunnersbury and Kew Bridge stations, as well as E3,N11 and 70 buses).
Did TFL experience or have any reports of damage to vehicles, stations or other infrastructure, or reports of overcrowding or safety hazards during the following events:
2019
Lovebox
12 -13 Jul 2019
2022
Soho house Festival
29 June-14 July 2022
Gunnersbury Live!
4-27 August 2022
Waterworks
5-23 Sep 2022
How much additional demand was associated with each event – specifically:
• Number of people using your service?
• Number of incidents responded to/recorded?
• Number of violent incidents?
• Number of injuries sustained by any means?
• Number of infrastructure or vehicle damage reports?
How much additional resourcing was required in terms of:
• Preparation & planning?
• Extra staffing?
• Capacity measures?
• Infrastructure improvements?
Did TFL have concerns about the safety of either event for:
• Festival attendees?
• Local residents?
• Commuters?
• TFL staff?
What was and is the estimated cost for the current year toTFL of meeting the additional/existing demands created by:
2019
Lovebox
12 -13 Jul 2019
2022
Soho house Festival
29 June-14 July 2022
Gunnersbury Live!
4-27 August 2022
Waterworks
5-23 Sep 2022
2023
Soho House Festival
05- 08.07.2023
Festival Republic
11 Aug 2023
Waterworks
16-17.09.2023
Thank you for taking the time to answer the above freedom of information request. We expect your reply within the legally stipulated 20 working days.
We answered
TfL Ref: 0270-2324
Thank you for your request received by Transport for London (TfL) on 26 April 2023 asking for information about events held at Gunnersbury Park and the effects on the TfL network.
Your request has been considered under the requirements of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and our information access policy. You asked: This is a freedom of information request under The Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) regarding the Gunnersbury park and the large scale commercial music events held there by Gunnersbury CIC's effects on the TFL network in the surrounding area (Acton Town, Gunnersbury and Kew Bridge stations, as well as E3,N11 and 70 buses).
1. Did TFL experience or have any reports of damage to vehicles, stations or other infrastructure, or reports of overcrowding or safety hazards during the following events:
2019 Lovebox 12 -13 Jul 2019
2022 Soho house Festival 29 June-14 July 2022 Gunnersbury Live! 4-27 August 2022 Waterworks 5-23 Sep 2022
2. How much additional demand was associated with each event – specifically:
• Number of people using your service?
• Number of incidents responded to/recorded?
• Number of violent incidents?
• Number of injuries sustained by any means?
• Number of infrastructure or vehicle damage reports?
3. How much additional resourcing was required in terms of:
• Preparation & planning?
• Extra staffing?
• Capacity measures?
• Infrastructure improvements?
4. Did TFL have concerns about the safety of either event for:
• Festival attendees?
• Local residents?
• Commuters?
• TFL staff?
5. What was and is the estimated cost for the current year to TFL of meeting the additional/existing demands created by:
2019 Lovebox 12 -13 Jul 2019
2022 Soho house Festival 29 June-14 July 2022 Gunnersbury Live! 4-27 August 2022 Waterworks 5-23 Sep 2022
2023 Soho House Festival 05- 08.07.2023 Festival Republic 11 Aug 2023 Waterworks 16-17.09.2023
I can confirm that we do hold some of the information you require. However, to provide the information you have requested would exceed the ‘appropriate limit’ of £450 set by the Freedom of Information (Appropriate Limit and Fees) Regulations 2004.
Under section 12 of the FOI Act, we are not obliged to comply with requests if we estimate that the cost of determining whether we hold the information, locating and retrieving it and extracting it from other information would exceed the appropriate limit. In this instance, we estimate that the time required to answer your request would exceed 18 hours which, at £25 per hour (the rate stipulated by the Regulations), exceeds the ‘appropriate limit’.
I have numbered your request as questions 1-5 to make it easier to follow. Your request is extremely broad and covers 7 separate events held at Gunnersbury Park in 2019 and 2022 as well as some future events taking place in 2023 with some of those events taking place across multiple days for example Gunnersbury Live which took place from 4 – 27 August 2022.
The first part of your information request includes asking for the information we hold on damage to stations, infrastructure and vehicles as well as overcrowding and safety hazards. Information on each of these areas is not held centrally and will be held in numerous formats across multiple business areas. Some of the information for example damage to vehicles may not be held by TfL but by the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS). We estimate that it will significantly exceed the cost limit under FOI to answer just the first part 1 of your request and to locate, extract and then check and collate all the information you have requested.
To help bring the cost of responding to your requests within the £450 limit, you may wish to consider refining your requests to concentrate on matters which are important to you.
Although your request can take the form of a question, rather than a request for specific documents, TfL does not have to answer your question if it would require the creation of new information or the provision of a judgement, explanation, advice or opinion that was not already recorded at the time of your request. If you have specific questions relating to these topics we may be more easily able to respond to these than to a request for any information held. Part 4 of your request does not come under FOI for the reasons above.
By way of advice and assistance, in part 2 (first point) of your request, you have asked about tube and bus passenger demand on the event dates – we publish daily passenger usage information for each London Underground station via our Network Demand Report for entries and exits via the following link: https://tfl.gov.uk/corporate/publications-and-reports/coronavirus-publications?cid=coronavirus-publications#on-this-page-0. By following the arrows to the ‘Demand by Travel Mode’ page and clicking on ‘Demand by Station Type’, select the London Underground station of your choice and this will produce a graph illustrating the ‘Number of Taps Per Day’ for the chosen location. Additionally, by hovering your mouse along the base of the graph, a pop-up message will feature stating the date and number of daily taps recorded for the selected station. Please note that the data only starts in January 2020.
If you are not satisfied with this response please see the attached information sheet for details of your right to appeal.
Yours sincerely
Sara Thomas FOI Case Officer FOI Case Management Team General Counsel Transport for London
