Fearful residents are demanding a ‘dress code’ and a ‘buffer zone’ as 340,000 Oasis fans are due to flood their streets ahead of five concerts later this month.
Worried locals living near Heaton Park, Manchester, says they are concerned about nudity, drunken behavior and people peeing in their gardens during the sell-out gigs.
The park’s neighbors say they’ve even been given temporary fencing to place in front of the houses to defend themselves from hoards of concert-goers.
The five Oasis concerts – the first time the band will have played in their home city since 2009 – will come just a week after thousands of music fans gather for the annual Parklife festival at the 600 acre park.
Residents are concerned about drunken Oasis fans wearing ‘skimpy’ outfits, breaking into their gardens, going to the toilet in their driveways as well as problems with parking.
Mom of four Nosheen Usman, 46, has lived on Sheepfoot Lane, opposite the park’s south entrance, for 35 years.
She says she thinks the local council should impose a dress code on revelers, with previous ‘Parklife’ attendees walking past her home wearing ‘literally nothing’.
Nosheen said: “Two years ago, I don’t know what the theme was, but they were literally wearing nothing.
“My kids were 11, 12 years old, and we had to tell them not to go outside.
“They were coming inside our driveway, they were taking pictures.
“The whole street has kids, young girls, boys, and especially when they’re drunk at night time half of them walk without shoes, running on the road, screaming, singing, doing whatever.
“One of the girls tops broke while she was walking. It wasn’t her fault, but she was completely naked on the road.
“My kids were going ‘mom can I take the camera outside?’ and I said ‘don’t even think about it’.”
As well as dealing with drunken revelers, Nosheen said event parking rules have also been causing stress.
Strict enforcement, she says, meant the working mom missed a family wedding, as she knew she’d be unable to drive back to her house in time for her retail shift the next day.
Nossheen added: “We’ve had parking tickets about 10 to 15 times, just me coming as I drop my kids off. I’ve got twins, I left my car here, came inside, went back out, ticket.
“Another time, my husband came to drop me off, he pulled his car out, I went inside to drop my bag, and a police car told him to move or he’d get a ticket.”
Father of four Habib, 50, has lived on the road for 15 years.
He said he wants event organizers to start showing more respect towards residents.
The self-employed dad said: “The disruption a lot of the families on here face is massive.
“The majority of families along this stretch now are families with young children who are disrupted for the weekend.
“This year I think it hasn’t been taken into consideration.
“It does look like the councils are more interested in making money rather than concentrating residents, listening to their concerns, because concerns of the residents on this stretch haven’t been listened to.
“No-one’s been to see us, no-one’s had a consultation with us.
“To have another five dates with Oasis, which is going to be huge, I think it’s sad that the organizers did not consult or listen to the residents.”
He added: “You get people chucking things into your garden, some people still will try to run into your garden.
“You get kids coming in to your garden, what they want to do we don’t know.
“A lot of the problems we have on this stretch as residents during Parklife is more due to the staff they employ than punters nowadays, especially the parking wardens who give residents such as hard time
Ann Fullen, 84, has lived opposite the park for 43 years.
She says the street gets ‘noisy’ during gigs.
However the OAP disagreed with calls for an enforced dress code – saying the outfits were part of the fun.
She said: “They’re lovely, short skirts – they do very well. It’s funny to watch them roaming up and down this verge.
“Let them get on with it, they’re not doing any harm – they seem to enjoy themselves with their short skirts and what have you.”
For the last few years, those living on Sheepfoot Lane have been given temporary gates to block drunken music fans from coming into their driveways.
A resident of the street for 38 years, retiree Jaroslaw Kopczyk said for most of the year he enjoys living close to the ‘beautiful’ Heaton Park.
But Jaroslaw recalled an incident where two women came in to his neighbor’s front garden to relieve themselves.
He said: “A couple of women came in and pulled their knickers down, and they were having a wee.
“They were obviously very, very bold to do it there, on a fairly busy road so they could be seen. We could actually see them through the bedroom window!”
He added: “They do give you fences to protect you, but there’s not enough people, not enough wardens, to make sure that attendees to the events do what they have to do.
“Once the event’s finished they should be going home.
“There should be wardens here to make sure they’re not sat on walls with a possibility of causing any damage anywhere. That’s probably the biggest concern.”
Mohamed Dilshad Mir, 73, has lived on the road for 37 years.
He said he was looking forward to the Oasis gigs, but he admitted it did cause ‘inconvenience’ to local residents.
He said: “We can’t park – that’s one of our cars parked on the road there, we won’t be able to park, we rely on our neighbors, we’ve got very good neighbors who are very welcoming and our extra cars are parked on their drives.
“It’s a bit difficult because you can’t get away.
“When Parklife was on we had a do in the Midlands, but we couldn’t come back because they close the roads at 8.30, so we had to stay overnight at my sister’s and come back the following afternoon.”
Stephen Golmbeck, a resident of 35 years, said: “It’s great, there’s no problem, we know what it is.
“When there’s concerts on, it’s gone better and better, it’s well organized. You get the gates, you have police walking up all the time.
“A lot of older people will moan, but everyone’s young so let them enjoy themselves.”
“I think we should be given a free ticket on Sheepfoot Lane, 100%.
“[Noel and Liam] are what they are, but I do like the music.”
Manchester city councillor John Hacking said: “We have a tried and tested process in place to support the planning and delivery of major music events in Heaton Park, which draws on experience and lessons learnt from more than ten years of hosting Parklife there.
“This includes working closely with organizers, promoters, key agency partners and others to ensure robust tailored measures are in place across every aspect of the event – from travel and transport to and from, to ensuring a safe environment for those attending.
“We also hold regular discussions with local residents’ groups, and detailed plans are implemented to help reduce the impact of the concerts on the local community.
“In addition to this we will also have a dedicated community impact team working for the duration of the Oasis concerts – as we did over the Parklife weekend – monitoring and managing any concerns.”
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