Fundraiser at Hendon school to go ahead despite complaints of ‘massive disturbances’

A school fundraiser will go ahead in Hendon this weekend despite noise and disruption concerns from residents and the local council.

The decision to allow the “Gala Melava Malka” event to take place at the Talmud Torah Tiferes Shlomo comes after a special hearing of Barnet Council last Thursday, in which the council’s own environmental health department lodged a formal objection to the school’s continued use of Temporary Event Notices, or TENs, to secure permission to run events in the school hall. The event is a one-off, and permission for it has been granted.

Residents of the small street in Hendon have been complaining for months about the disruption every time an event has taken place in the school hall. The school occupies the building which was the former home of Hendon Reform Synagogue.

Neighbours told Jewish News of “massive disturbances” on the nights that the hall has been used, with catering trucks, huge amounts of traffic unsuitable for a quiet road, and noise from music and guests standing outside the hall until the early hours of the morning.

Representatives of the residents did not take part in last Thursday’s Licensing Sub-Committee hearing, but there has now been a ruling that the November 20 event can go ahead — but under stringent conditions.

Committee members will now monitor the noise emanating from the building, making hourly and half-hourly tours of the outside of the hall, using handheld devices to ensure the music is not louder than 90 decibels. Security staff will make regular checks of the doors to ensure they are not open to the street. Guests will be encouraged to move away from the premises quickly and quietly and there will be signs asking people to respect the peace of the neighbours.

Additionally, the catering trucks will not be allowed to clean up until Sunday morning.

A Danescroft Avenue neighbour told Jewish News that the ruling from Barnet was “frustrating”, and predicted that the school would take the opportunity at the Melava Malka to demonstrate to the council how well-behaved it could be. He was not confident, however, that future events would conform to the new restrictions.