THE ORGANISERS of a music event at Odsal Stadium for thousands of teenagers that was cancelled at the last minute have been slated for its lack of organisation by a public safety body.

Teen Scene Parties had planned the event for children aged 13-18 at the former home of the Bradford Bulls on Friday, August 23.

The likes of Aitch, Melissa Steel and Wrapz were all due to take to the stage.

But it was cancelled the previous day by the Bulls over safety concerns on the recommendation of the Public Safety Liaison Group (PSLG) which is multi-agency partnership made up of Bradford Council and other public bodies.

And at least one parent is still waiting to get their money back for tickets for the event which cost £15 in advance.

Now a Freedom of Information request to the PSLG for correspondence over Teenfest has revealed lengthy damning details that include:

  • the plans were described as “naive”
  • the planning was “woefully lacking in any detail about how this event is to be safely managed”
  • there was no “safe space” allocated
  • the risk assessments “fail to consider any basic risks of young people’s behaviour”
  • there were no emergency or contingency plans for evacuation of the site
  • there was no evidence of an admissions or rejection policy
  • there was no mention of searches and how would they be done
  • there was no command and control structure
  • no details of a communication system were given
  • there was no evidence of a crowd management plan
  • plans were lacking details of waste management
  • insufficient detail of the temporary structures including a stage and marquees
  • no insurance details or risk assessments were provided for caterers
  • no details of funfair rides eg insurance were given
  • there was no evidence of a certificate of public liability insurance. “Cover amount requested by the organiser is £1m. Usually the amount of cover is a minimum of £5m.”

One PSLG email contributor says: “If this is all the planning it is woefully lacking in any detail what so ever about how this event is to be safely managed. There are a lot of words that look to offer reassurance but in all of this there is simply not enough adequate details of the how, who, when, what that enables an endorsement to be given having made due consideration to all the elements of an open air youth festival.”

According to the documents, in which names have been redacted, the first contact between the PSLG and Teen Scene Parties is August 16 when there was due to be a meeting about the event which the Teenfest organisers failed to attend.

The organisers were then given a second chance to stop the plug being pulled on the event by sending all their documentation but contributors to the PSLG consultation branded these inadequate.

On Tuesday, August 20, the recommendation to the Bulls to cancel the event was confirmed.

After listing all the perceived deficiencies, the letter to the organisers on that day concludes: “Due to the overwhelming concerns raised by member of the PSLG, the organiser’s plan is not retrievable in the current timeframe.

“The safety of young people is of paramount concern and consequently the PSLG do not feel we have the adequate reassurance to demonstrate competence or that robust plans are in place to manage the event safely.”

The Council’s emergency planning department is still trying to meet with Teen Scene parties and go through the event plans and help them to develop more robust plans for any future events they might have but had no response to the suggestion.

Parent Lucy Kellet said she was still out of pocket: “I have emailed them twice.

“The first reply was to send all booking references and that they would proceed with the refund, so I did and received an email stating that they were out of the office until the following week.

“I then sent another email the following week and had a reply saying that the office was closed until further notice. So no refund!”

Teen Scene Parties could not be reached for a comment with emails getting a reply saying: “Thank you for your email, The office is currently closed until further notice.”

On its website the company says: “Teen Scene Parties have provided safe secure events to a segment of our community where the general consensus is that the events will incite trouble. As an independent youth organisation Teen Scene Parties have completely broken the mould by providing highly anticipated events for the forgotten youth in our communities.

“Having conducted five successful events at the Rio Grande Bradford, the Teenfest event should have been an amazing event keeping in with the Festival season and would have provided one of the largest and safest outdoor events the city of Bradford has seen for years.

“Unfortunately, the combination of the Bradford council and Bradford Bulls have ensured this event does not take place. This event has been cancelled twice at different locations, even though we received signatures from all local residents and business owners stating they were happy for this event to go ahead. The Odsal Stadium was then strongly recommended by the police licensing officer and the council licensing department.

“Due to the lack of help and support, followed by a mass amount of criticism from Odsal Stadium, the Public Safety Liaison Group and other youth organisations we have come to the conclusion that this is a cultural, racial and deprived youth issue that caused them to pull the plug on our event 24 hours before it was due to start.

“This last-minute lack of confidence ultimately stems from racial and cultural ignorance as well as an out of touch and dated attitude towards a generation of young people whom not only need but deserve a positive environment where they can have fun and socialise whilst being fully safeguarded by our hand-picked security team and stewards.”

Teenfest was rearranged to take place at the Rio Grande on August 31 but the statement added that “due to all the damage caused to our small independent organisation, this will be our last event for the foreseeable future”.

The website also has a link to a petition asking for support of events for “the forgotten youth in our communities”. To date it has 73 signatories.