Leeds Festival noise complaint figures shared as councillors hear what neighbours made of the huge music event

The event, which is held in the city’s Bramham Park every August bank holiday, draws thousands of music-lovers from all over the country to north-east Leeds.

While previous editions of Leeds Festival have caused some upset to neighbours living in the surrounding area, 2022’s event has been hailed as a massive improvement.

A meeting of Wetherby, Harewood and Alwoodley councillors at Leeds’ Civic Hall this week was told no complaints were made to environmental health officers about the event this year. And although some complaints are thought to have been lodged with organisers Festival Republic, local Conservative councillor Matthew Robinson said the numbers were believed to be small.

Coun Robinson co-chairs a working group set up to liaise between the organisers, residents, police and the authorities. Speaking after the meeting, he said: “Noise complaints were significantly down on 2021. Across every measure and every type of noise complaint you can have, there was a significant drop.

“I’d say there’s still work to do in terms of communication and highways issues, but the working group has made a big difference. It’s never going to be perfect for everyone, but I think everybody felt it’s been successful in what it was set up to do. I think residents have found it useful, the police have found it useful and I hope Festival Republic have found it useful too.”

The working group was set up last year after Coun Robinson said he had “received more emails and messages than ever before” about problems linked to the festival, with traffic chaos chief among local gripes.

However, the opening of the East Leeds Orbital Road (ELOR) this year is believed to have helped with the traffic flow between villages this time around.

Festival Republic was contacted for comment and asked if it could confirm its noise complaint figures, but had not responded to the Local Democracy Reporting Service at the time of writing.

While local residents may not have complained about noise, festivalgoers and parents did take to social media to complain about chaotic scenes on Sunday evening when tents were set alight and Uber drivers demanding inflated cash fares in breach of operating rules.