A community centre has been refused permission to host an event at St Pauls Carnival amid police concerns over public safety.
Malcolm X community centre applied to sell alcohol on and off the premises and provide entertainment at the festival between midday and 9.30pm on July 6.
But Bristol City Council’s licensing sub-committee rejected it after Avon and Somerset police objected.
A separate, official event run by St Pauls Carnival committee in the City Road centre’s car park is set to go ahead as planned.
Councillors heard that the application opposed by the police came from the centre itself, not the committee, and had not been run by the carnival organisers for approval.
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Licensing officer Carl Knights said: “We received an objection from the police.
“They are expecting a large number of people to attend the carnival this year, and this event has not been sanctioned by the carnival committee.
“Standard practice now is that the carnival committee works in partnership with the police to ensure everything runs smoothly.”
Mr Knights said police objected because additional, unofficial events on the day could cause safety issues with unexpected crowd control pinch-points.
“In addition, there is the fact the carnival committee has applied for a premises licence at the Malcolm X car park, which is something for the carnival that is always there,” he said.
“That is just the car park area and excludes the community centre itself.
“Police are concerned about how those two events might interact with each other.
“We do not have any further information from the applicant of the temporary event notice about how it would actually work, but there are concerns it could have an impact on public safety.
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“The impact of this notice and how it would affect the carnival as a whole has not been considered.
“I have spoken to the premises user on the phone today and they have said they intend to meet with the carnival committee in the coming weeks.
“If they were to do that, and if members were minded to issue a counter-notice today saying it could not go ahead, they could put in another notice and that could go through the process again.
“There is plenty of time for them to submit another notice.”
Announcing the sub-committee’s decision on Tuesday, May 7, chairman Councillor Mike Langley said: “We have rejected the application on the grounds that it has not been sanctioned through the carnival committee, as agreed in previous years.
“Taking advice from the police, we feel this will increase the risks and may compromise public safety in the event that the management and planning is not agreed to.”
No one from Malcolm X community centre attended the hearing.
