Concert promoter for Arctic Monkeys, Billie Eilish and Stormzy granted permission for new Sheffield music festival

Sheffield Council’s licensing sub committee approved the application in a meeting yesterday.

SJM Concerts – who as well as the Arctic Monkeys, have worked with big names including Billie Eilish and Stormzy – asked to be licensed for an event covering a maximum of three days between May and September in either 2023 or 2024.

The working title of the event is ‘City of Sheffield Music, Interaction and Culture’, COSMIC, and specific dates of 2nd and 3rd of June 2023 were proposed.

SJM said there would be one stage and up to 39,999 attendees each day plus staff and contractors.

They said live music would take place between 4pm and 10.30pm with around three support acts and one main act a day.

Councillor Joe Otten, chair of the committee, said: “I’m happy that we could grant a licence for another music festival in Sheffield. Music is one of our city’s strengths and the festivals bring us joy.

“But I am also sympathetic to nearby residents to Hillsborough Park who may not appreciate the nuisance and seem to be getting more than their fair share of it, and potentially losing the normal use of their local park for large parts of the summer. I’ve suggested that the council consider using more venues so that the whole burden doesn’t fall on Hillsborough residents.”

There were three formal objections to the application from local residents and the Hillsborough Green Party.

One objector, Simon Benton, said: “The disruption and noise it would cause as well as the loss of public space for a significant amount of time makes it unacceptable in my opinion. Sheffield has enough designated venues to hold these sorts of things without having to use residential areas. Hillsborough Park has houses so close to it people have reported windows shaking when Tramlines is on, to put the local people through this more than once a year is not acceptable.”

Julie Birch, who lives opposite the park, said: “I accept that the park hosts certain events but another intrusive pop concert is completely over-the-top.”

Matt Proctor, licensing officer at the council, said in a report that SJM agreed to a number of conditions to prevent things such as disruption to local residents and crime and ensure safety for the public.

Steve Walton, of SJM, said: “One thing I think needs to be made clear is once you have got a licence granted, it doesn’t mean the event is 100 per cent happening because you have to go through the whole safety advisory group process and we need buy-in from all of the agencies with regards to that. So it’s never a given just because we have got the licence that the event is happening, there are certain processes we have to follow and give assurances.”

He said they have a dedicated resident liaison to address any concerns from locals.