118,000 tickets sold for Ed Sheeran gig at Roundhay Park as Leeds council grants licence

The news came during a licensing committee meeting today, as councillors agreed to make Roundhay Park one of the biggest concert venues in the country.

Events capacity for the park is set to quadruple from 19,999 to 79,999, meaning the authority has effectively now given permission for two planned Ed Sheeran concerts to take place later this year.

It was also revealed that more than tickets had so far been sold 118,000 tickets for the two-night show, making it one of the largest concert events in the city’s history.

Following questions from local residents, a Leeds City Council events officer said: “At the moment, ticket sales for the Friday are at 53,000; and for the Saturday are at 65,000.”

The meeting followed around 20 letters of objection from local residents, which complained about the possibility of traffic, noise and antisocial behaviour. Two Roundhay residents also spoke out to the panel against the plans, claiming there could also be a risk to wildlife in the park.

But committee decision-makers said they were satisfied with the plans, and gave permission for the capacity extension.

Leeds Council’s events team, which is behind the plans, said that all local objectors had been contacted to discuss concerns around the concert.

An events officer added: “The last large event we had was in 2006, so it is a long time since we held a large event like this. The park has proven in the past that it can hold a large event.”

He also claimed they had worked on issues to do with traffic and waste management, as well as planning issues.

Committee member Coun Neil Buckley (Con) asked: “We have had reference in some of the letters to what people describe as antisocial behaviour, using gardens as toilets, as well as lorries driving over flower beds and causing damage to verges.

“What measures are in place to ensure people aren’t doing that?”

An events officer confirmed that there were plans to increase the number of toilets outside the event, as well as increasing security on the periphery of the event site to ensure residents’ property will be protected.”

Coun Jools Heselwood (Lab) was concerned about large vehicles encroaching on nearby residential areas, adding: “What have we put in place? Is there a dedicated area where these vehicles can park up, so they’re not parking in front of people’s homes?”

The officer said there would be no dedicated car parking space for most of the large vehicles, but added that it wasn’t anticipated that there will be huge numbers of vehicles at the site.