Three-day Gloucestershire music festival plans approved
A music festival that started in Stroud has been granted permission to run over three days on a new venue in Gloucestershire later this year, despite fears from nearby residents.
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Plans for a popular three day charity music festival near Churchdown have been given the go-ahead amid fears “gatecrashers will risk their lives walking across the M5” to get in.
The Sunflowers Festival is planned for October 3 to 5 this year.
Monkey Bar Events Ltd has been granted a premises licence by Tewkesbury Borough Council to use the field previously used by Witcombe Festival off Brockworth Road.
The permission allows them to use the land for one three day event each year between April 1 and October 31.
The organisers are allowed to sell alcohol, play live and recorded music and have performances at the site from 5pm to 10.30pm on the Friday, from noon to 10.30pm on the Saturday and from noon until 5.30pm on the Sunday.
The music festival, which will raise money for charity Sunflowers Suicide Support, will have a capacity of 3,000 people this year.
The organisers seek to build on the huge popularity of its previous sellout event at the Old Crown in Paganhill.
The proposals were considered by the licensing sub-committee at a meeting yesterday.
26 people objected to the proposals while six wrote in favour of the proposals. Henri Schreuder, who lives nearby, was among those who spoke at the meeting.
He raised concerns about the prospect gatecrashers trampling over his land to get to the festival.
“All the people who don’t want to pay will get in via my property,” he said.
“And they will, you know, and all the drugs and so forth which will come, people walking across the M5, risking their lives, not even using the footbridge which is there, then onto my property.
“They will just walk across the M5 and they bring their fishing kit with them.
“And even though you might put a security fence inside they’ll just whip it over and there will be somebody on the inside there catching it.
“it is impossible to secure, and the last lot that we had, I think three or was i four times? Employed a lot of security staff.
“This is why they couldn’t make it work. They couldn’t stop people just entering the site.
“That’s quite apart from cutting through sheep wire and so forth and leaving a lot of rubbish on my property up and down the road, you know, which.
“We, as locals, have to clear up lots of bottles, even though they’re not allowed to bring in any bottles.”
Michael Hopkins, another nearby resident, said they have developed a farm over 39 years.
He raised concerns about the impact noise from the festival will have on wildlife.
“When we first bought it, we didn’t have a single bird, not even a sparrow on that farm,” he said. “Today we have barn owls, kestrels, hawks, pheasants, French partridges running relaxed within the farm.
“On these events, believe you me, the noise level at night is bouncing off our walls because we’re dead opposite.”
He also raised concerns that villagers were not properly notified about the event.
“It was my neighbor that brought it to my attention, it was on a poster in a gateway,” he said.
“The people that it’s gonna affect had no knowledge of this application. Young people will bring cans, bottles, drink, and then discard them on route over the hedge in the ditch and believe you me, we have this problem.
“The other thing is, I’ve said noise pollution and it does vary. If the wind is blowing the wrong direction, we get it, or Brockworth will have to get it if it’s that way or Hucclecote. It is quite amplified by the wind.”
Sebastian Devlin, the director of Monkey Bar Events, said he respected the concerns from residents but explained how he has spent months preparing the festival.
He told the meeting people climbing over fields is not acceptable and will not happen and any rule breaking would not be tolerated.
He said they started off in Stroud and ran it at the Old Crown in Paganhill. “The capacity was 600 people,” he said. “I could have sold 2,000 tickets. The interest was that huge.
“I sold all the tickets in two weeks. It was the most phenomenal thing Stroud has seen in a long time.”
He said he looked to make the festival bigger due to the demand and they have raised almost £17,000 for charity in that time.
Mr Devlin said he had been granted a premises licence to hold the event at Stroud Cricket Club but they are not allowed temporary structures.
“That’s why we had to look for somewhere else,” he said.
“Even though we are using the whole field, we’ve allowed for car parking, a taxi turnaround so that people aren’t out on the road. It’s an enclosed site.”
He said people climbing over fields is not acceptable and will not happen and any rule breaking would not be tolerated.
“The whole site is securely fenced off,” he said. “We’ve got security at different points.
“The only way to get in is through the walking system on site,” he said. “Everyone’s tickets will be scanned and checked.”
“We’ve diligently set out with my health and safety officer to make sure they are spread out evenly on the fence line.
He said the tent will hold 3,500 people. But that capacity has been dropped to 3,000.
“This is our first year of taking it to the next level. I know the licence says a maximum of 4,999 people each year.
“We’ve made it so that it is as safe as possible.”
The committee decided to approve the premises licence subject to additional conditions agreed by the police and environmental health officers.
The organiser is expected to hold a question and answer session with residents two and a half months before the event and to drop off leaflets to residents with information and contact details for the event.
They are also encouraged to use recycled products where possible and to conduct a wildlife survey.
By Carmelo Garcia, local democracy reporter for Gloucestershire. carmelo.garcia@reachplc.com