Furious residents have rubbished plans for a massive 300ft spherical music venue right on their doorstep.
There are plans to build a 21,500-seater sphere that could host some of the biggest music acts in the world - and see music blasted out of its 167,000 speakers. But locals in the residential Stratford neighbourhood, in London, where it’s planned to be built, have labelled the possibility of it being built as a “travesty of justice”.
A similar venue, costing an eye-watering £1.9billion, opened last Friday in Las Vegas with a U2 concert. As he performed, the band’s lead singer Bono called James Dolan, who created the venue, a “mad b*****d”. But residents in London worry that if it’s built, then their nights will be ruined by massive light pollution and noise.
Alongside this, the fear massive traffic as people surge to the venue that would be taller than Big Ben and the London Eye. Lindesay Mace is leading a group called Stop MSG Sphere London and is fighting the plans. They told the Telegraph: “The sphere is designed for Vegas, the city of lights. It is not designed for a small site that is surrounded with three blocks of residential properties."
He added: “One of our members, she lives 75 metres away, her windows all face opposite the site. We are going to have massive glowing advertisements blaring [into our homes] from one of the biggest structures the UK and Europe has ever seen, it is just ridiculous".
He also claimed that residents were offered black out blinds by the firm building but that this was “insulting” and would do nothing. The plans were reportedly granted permission last year, but is waiting on approval from London mayor Sadiq Khan. Secretary of State Michael Gove will also be involved in the decision.
Construction mogul Mr Dolan also built the famous Madison Square Gardens in New York and claimed to have come up with the idea after drawing a figure standing inside a circle. Later, speaking to Variety, he said: “London is still very much moving forward, that is definitely a big part of the business plan, to build more Spheres all over the world. And by the way, different-size ones too – probably not much bigger than the one in Vegas, but we’ve actually gone through already architectural drawings and designs for smaller Spheres for smaller markets.”
MSG have said that the site will generate around £50million profits for London every single year - and that this will benefit local businesses too. A Sphere London spokesperson: “We remain committed to bringing Sphere to London and delivering its many cultural and economic benefits, including creating thousands of jobs and generating billions of pounds for the local, London and UK economy.”
But Zack Polanski, deputy leader of the Green Party said: “Where the proposed plan is, a lot of these places are migratory routes, both for birds, wildlife, insects and light can both attract wildlife in the wrong direction or repel them away. It is just horrendous."