The people of Manchester have well and truly gone all out for the homecoming Oasis gigs whether they have a ticket or not – and there are still three concerts to be played at Heaton Park this week. However, today (July 15) Manchester City Council has made a request for ticketless Oasis fans not to travel to Heaton Park.
Over the weekend, many Oasis fans flocked to what is being referred to as “Gallagher Hill” in order to get a glimpse of the live shows at Heaton Park. The hill became so well known that a location tag for it was added to Google Maps.
Why ticketless Oasis fans should not visit Heaton Park
Following on from the first two nights, additional measures have now been deemed necessary by the council and will be in place for the next three Oasis concerts. The council said that these measures are being put in place in order to protect the environment of the park, ensure areas of parkland and nearby livestock are protected, and maintain public safety.
One of the measures put in place is the erection of steel fencing around a large area of the so-called ‘Gallagher Hill’ within the cattle field in the main park. This part of Heaton Park is curently being developed as a new woodland area and has been recently planted with around 300 trees including Hornbeam, Field Maple, Aspen, Downy birch, Rowan, Common Alder, Crab apple and more. Additional measures have also been put in place to protect the livestock in the field, which include expectant and nursing cows and a bull.
The council said the erection of the fencing has a dual purpose – both to protect the environment from further damage and to dissuade people from gathering there. There are no facilities for ticketless Oasis fans at Heaton Park and they will no longer be able to see the concerts or get into the event arena due to the solid, high-security fencing all the way round and in excess of 2,000 event security staff and police officers on duty around the site.
Councillor John Hacking, Executive Member for Employment, Skills and Leisure, Manchester City Council, said: “The atmosphere across Manchester has been electric over this last week with the whole city swept up in Oasis fever and peaking over the weekend with the first two hugely successful homecoming concerts at Heaton Park.
“As you would expect given the size of the concerts and numbers of people attending, we go through a continuous process with partners of re-assessing the plans in place for the concerts to ensure both public safety and that any environmental impact on our award-winning park is minimalised.
“The steps being taken ahead of the next concert regretfully mean the distant view of the large screens behind the event stage will no longer be there. Unfortunately our hand has been forced in having to put these additional measures in place to protect the very recent extensive planting of young trees in that location as we try to establish a new woodland area in the park, and the wellbeing of our cattle herd in the field, as well as to keep people in the park safe.
“Our advice to music fans who don’t have tickets for the concerts is to head into the city centre instead. The whole city is going all out to celebrate and help everyone have a good time. We’ve got some fantastic things going on with a real party atmosphere for everyone to enjoy whether they’ve got tickets for the Oasis gigs or not.”