Resident Concerns on New September Concert At Pilton By Glastonbury Festival Organisers

Local residents have written formal objections and raised a large number of concerns in person about the "rushed" proposal by Glastonbury Festival Events Limited (GFEL) to put on a two-day concert at Worthy Farm in Pilton.

The two-day "September" event was described as "to compensate" for the loss of Pilton (Glastonbury) Festival two years in a row, according to a report involving Daniel Mumby (Somerset Local Democracy Reporter) on BBC Radio Somerset this evening, Thursday 13th May 2021. A full transcript of the interview is below.

Residents are unhappy about how Mendip District Council has not consulted them properly, and GFEL having done the same lack of involvement of residents. More on this is in the transcript.

Having previously questioned local authorities and Glastonbury Festival, Bath and West and other event organisers on the wisdom of holding mass gatherings and large events during coronavirus in 2020 and 2021, Somerset Independents is following events closely and working with local residents. We applauded the leadership of Bath and West earlier this year, when they took the responsible decision.

Somerset Independents was formed to stand up for Somerset residents. 

Somerset Independents remain extremely concerned that Mendip District Council is in a "rush to please" GFEL as alleged by a local resident at yesterday's Licensing Sub-Committee. This accusation was of course denied by Cabinet Member for Economic Development Councillor Simon Carswell who against all sound governance sat on the Licensing Sub-Committee that considered the application. This was not a conflict of interest at all according to MDC, despite Cllr Carswell declaring his meeting GFEL people as an interest during the meeting. See note* below for more on the other conflicts of interest at MDC.

This event could put not only the attendees and staff at risk, but all local residents from cross-infection before, during and after the event of current or any future variants or mutations of coronavirus.

We have written to the Somerset County Council Director of Public Health, Trudi Grant, and await an answer.

There will be more from us on this very soon.

Below is a transcript of the interview between Matt Faulkner and Daniel Mumby on BBC Radio Somerset today.

"Transcript of Daniel Mumby Interview
13/5/21
BBC Radio Somerset Matt Faulkner

Matt Faulkner:

As we were hearing, Mendip District Council is asking for more time to
decide whether a two-day concert at the Worthy Farm site could go ahead
some time in September.

Councillors on the Licensing Committee sat for seven hours yesterday and
 a further few hours today discussing the event which has prompted
concerns about noise, traffic and coronavirus precautions.

Our Local Democracy Reporter Daniel Mumby's been following the
protracted proceedings and joins me now.

Daniel, afternoon, first of all what sort of event are we talking about?

DM: Well many people will be aware that the full-blown Glastonbury
Festival won't be taking place this June in light of the coronavirus.

So to compensate for there being no festival two years on the trot, the
Festival organisers put forward plans for a smaller two-day event for
up to 50,000 people with bands playing on the Pyramid Stage only and no
on-site camping.

Now the date for the event has not yet been set. But the Festival hopes
it can take place some time in September around the time when the Pilton
Party is to be held.

Faulkner: So what are some of the concerns that have been raised about
the event so far?

DM: Well there were concerns about how legitimate the licensing hearing
was, with some residents alleging that they had not been properly consulted
about the event, something which the Festival organisers strongly
denied.

Beyond that, there were numerous complaints noise generated by the live
music and crowds, with local resident Caroline Griffiths saying  
there was an element of fear and futility in the community surrounding
the event.

Crowd size was also a concern with resident Nick Hall claiming  
people would be more tightly packed together than at the regular
Festival since only 7% of the site would end up being used.

And finally there were questions about coronavirus testing for ticket
holders, with the organisers saying they would comply with all
Government guidance at the time that the event is staged.

Faulkner: Why then has it taken so long to come to a decision?

DM: Well, licensing hearings are designed to drill down into the nitty-
gritty of an event. They're an opportunity for members of the public to
raise concerns and for official bodies like the Police, Fire Service
and Environmental Health to ensure that everything is above board and
all visitors to an event will be kept safe.

Now when you're dealing with an event of this size, not to mention the
reputation of the Glastonbury Festival, scrutinising every detail takes
time. It's pretty unprecedented for there to be seven hours of public
debate, followed by a further half-day of confidential discussion by
committee members.

Faulkner: OK, so where do we stand now. When do we find out the result?

DM: Well, we had hoped there would be a decision by the time we came on
the air, but sadly we'll have to wait a little longer. Mendip did
release a statement a little after 4 o'clock in which they blamed the
delays on the size and complexity of the event and say the decision may
now not be finalised until Wednesday next week.

Now we should point out this is entirely legal for the Council to take
that long. They are allowed up to 5 working days under Government
guidelines but it does mean a long and nervous wait for the residents
of Pilton and the neighbouring villages.

Faulkner: And once we do have a decision, what happens next?

DM: Well, if the Council says yes, the Festival will go ahead and make
their plans and announce a date once they've settled on it.

If the Council says no, the Festival organisers can lodge an appeal
within 30 days which would have to be heard by magistrates.

If they won the appeal, it would still give them enough time to put the
event together, but at this stage we're still dealing with a lot of
unknowns including of course what happens with coronavirus infection
rates once restrictions are completely lifted on the 21st June.

Faulkner: Daniel, thank you very much indeed."

*Note on conflicts of interest at MDC.

Members of the Executive or Cabinet should never sit on other committees of the Council, to avoid conflicts of interest. But as we have pointed out several times, Mendip District Council does not manage conflicts of interest, including on the Planning Board. This is the planning committee for MDC and its members include several members of Cabinet including the Leader of the Council Ros Wyke and whose Chair is Damon Hooton, who was previously in the MDC Cabinet for Planning and Development Management. All these are spectacularly bad ideas in the governance of any council and other councils including South Somerset specifically ban it.