Protestors fear 'intolerable' noise now Lord's cricket ground in St John's Wood Road is allowed to host floodlit evening matches for the next five years.
Lord's cricket ground in St John's Wood Road now has permission to install four retractable floodlights - which are 48 metres tall when extended - to host major international matches over the next five years, including the Twenty20 World Cup.
Angry residents say their homes will be plagued by antisocial behaviour and loud crowd noise when the evening matches are held.
St John's Wood Court Residents' Association penned a letter to Westminster Council, stating: "The Twenty20 World Cup will create a host of adverse impacts - it will attract huge crowds in the evening, there will be DJs playing loud music and more noise generated.
"The overall effect would be to generate levels and types of disturbance beyond any reasonable tolerance, in this densely residential and sensitive location."
Elm Tree Road Residents' Association added that the bright floodlights would affect people living close to the ground. Members said: "Trial runs have already been found to cause unacceptable levels of light pollution and direct beams of dazzling light to neighbours."
Westminster Council imposed conditions on the planning permission, including that the lights will only be used for up to 12 matches and four practice matches during a cricket season, which runs from April to September.
The lights must be dimmed to half-strength at 9.50pm and be switched off by 11pm, and Lord's must not sell alcohol past 9pm, to limit antisocial behaviour.
MCC secretary and chief executive Keith Bradshaw said: "We have worked with both the council and local residents over the past few months, to ensure that we have a floodlighting solution that has as minimal an impact as possible on all those who live near Lord's, whilst delivering a scheme of the highest quality for cricket."
Westminster Council's planning committee chairman Cllr Steve Summers added: "Our conditions provide a good balance between protecting our residents and ensuring Lord's remains the home of cricket."
