A dance music festival WILL come to Morden Park this summer despite concerns from residents.

Merton Council approved has approved plans for Eastern Electrics to return to the park for a third year.

It follows a marathon licensing sub-committee meeting last week which lasted more than five hours and heard that last year’s event attracted 400 complaints on a dedicated helpline.

This year there was strong local feeling on the festival returning with a total of 81 representations received – five were in support.

The meeting heard from nearby residents including the rector of St Lawrence’s Church on the border of the park, David Heath-Whyte, who described last year’s event as “the very definition of  public nuisance”.

His wife Claire Heath-Whyte said that after the “appalling behaviour of 2017″ the church gathered a team of volunteers to be at the church in 2018.

“In the first year we had people pooing in the graveyard, that is one of the reasons why we had out team of stewards,” said Mrs Heath-Whyte.

“There were toilets in he car park of the college very close, but coming out the festival goers are drunk high and tired they do not care when or where they go.”

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Her concerns were echoed by 61-year-old Susan Liang who said there was anti social behaviour by revellers on their way to and from the festival.

She said: “In 2017, festival attendees defecated, urinated, vomited and performed sexual acts in the church yard as well taking illegal drugs

“They left behind used condoms and nitrous oxide cannisters for us to find the next day when we were attending church.

“In 2018 the church was fenced in with metal barricades, members of the church stewarded the churchyard for 14 hours on Saturday and Sunday.”

The stewards also gave out 1,000 bottles of water.

At the meeting PC Russ Stevens from the Metropolitan Police raised concerns about a pool included in this year’s plans. 

Rob Dudley from We Are the Fair on behalf of the applicant, Blue Fox Events, said it would be an 800mm pool to “evoke an Ibiza style pool party”.

RELATED: Morden residents want application rejected

He added that people would have to change into swimwear first and petting would be banned.

Barrister for the applicant Michael Bromley-Martin: “There is an understanding of what went wrong last year.

“Too much concentration was spent on making sure the exact levels (of noise) of the licence were adhered to.

“We propose that the question of the pool should be admitted to the safety advisory group or the public health department of this council.

“There are considerable benefits of the event for Merton Council and the residents of Merton. Not only the benefit for the people who come to the festival.

“We hope all the things the applicant has done will ensure that the inevitable disturbance will be kept to a minimum.”

Yesterday Merton Council made the decision to approve the festival for one year, as opposed to the two asked for by Blue Fox Events.

Eastern Electrics will take place over two days on the weekend of August 3 and tickets, costing £45 for the weekend, are already on sale.

A spokeswoman for Eastern Electrics said: “We appreciate the decision made by Merton’s licensing sub committee to grant a licence for Eastern Electrics.

"We will continue to work closely with the police, licensing and other responsible authorities as well as local stakeholders to develop our plans and are committed delivering a safe and successful event.”