UPDATE (31/7/21): NASS Festival STILL GOING AHEAD Despite Cancellation of Glastonbury September 'Equinox' Concert

 

UPDATE (31/7/21): NASS FESTIVAL STILL PLANNED TO GO AHEAD

Following rumours from local residents that Nass Festival at the Bath and West Showground had been cancelled, Somerset Independents has been investigating. 

Somerset Independents Leader Andrew Pope has been in direct touch with the organisers of the event, and with Bath and West directly.

Nass was cancelled in 2020 and has been postponed in 2021 to 23rd-26th September.

Organiser Jools Butterfield of Vision Nine Group told us in response to our question:

Question: 

In the light of the September 'Equinox' event being cancelled by Glastonbury Festival Events Ltd (GFEL), will NASS Festival also be cancelled? If not, why not please? 

Answer: 

"NASS currently has the all the staff, infrastructure, financial support and completed planning timeline to operate safely.

We currently have the support of the SAG group including police and local authority and the current government guidelines allow us to run.

We have a very robust COVID policy in place, which we will be/have been sharing with those relevant.

So unless any of the aforementioned changes notably in a way that prevents safe operation, we are going ahead.

Not sure what GFL’s cancellation is driven by but it’s not relevant to us. There could be any number of reasons for their cancellation, I doubt you or I will ever know the accurate picture whatever is stated publicly in these circumstances is not always the reality. "

We also asked Mr Butterfield about the endorsement of Nass Festival by District Councillor for Evercreech Barry O'Leary that appears on the organiser's website (see photo above).

The website quotes Councillor O'Leary as Deputy Leader Mendip District Council saying, and we quote:

“I welcome NASS proceeding cautiously - it’s great they are working with local communities and agency’s to take account of the challenges, let’s look forward to a COVID-safe experience later this year !”

 Cllr. Barry O'Leary

Deputy Leader Mendip District Council

This is despite the problems caused by the Nass Festival in the local area, when it was last run.

Somerset Independents has challenged the organisers on those issues and we will be reporting more on those in the near future.

---

UPDATE (21/7/21): NASS Festival Cancelled? 

At Somerset Independents after having listened to and acted with local residents, especially at Pilton, we have today welcomed the cancellation of the September 'Equinox' event. 

Also today, after we were contacted by the organisers of the NASS Festival, we have asked them a series of questions about their proposed event (article from 5th June 2021 below). 

We heard from residents that it had been cancelled, after being postponed. 

So we checked with Bath and West and as far as we know, it is going ahead. 

So we have asked the organisers to reconsider in the light of the cancellation from GFEL. 

We have asked Mendip District Council, who are the Licensing Authority. Their Licensing Officer told us:

"As far as I am aware it is but we  live in ever changing times.

Update will be posted on their website https://www.nassfestival.com/"

Local resident Simon Gilmore told Somerset Independents:

"I went to a Mendip District Council planning meeting for the NASS Festival after the last gathering in 2019 and threw all my toys, dummies and the pram at them. 

All Mendip were after was revenue with no culpability to its residents."

Mendip couldn’t explain why they kept upping the capacity for the festival given the problems with access and hordes of teens roaming the roads, using my garden as hang out and loo.

Nor did Mendip want to comment on the problems caused to local residents."

 

---

The NASS Festival 2021 at the Bath and West Showground that had already been postponed from 2020, has been postponed again from 8th-11th July, to 23rd-26th September, just a day after appearing to be going ahead and less than two months after it had apparently "sold-out" of tickets.

The NASS Festival 2021 is not shown on the Events page of the Showground. The full statement from the organisers on the NASS Festival page is below. Refunds are being offered.

This cancellation comes after the Glastonbury Festival LiveStream disaster at Worthy Farm, Pilton, where customers paid £20 for tickets to view the LiveStream but for which the organisers Glastonbury Festival Events Ltd (GFEL) were forced to apologise and allow free viewing due to technical issues.

Refunds are being offered, but only to those who apply. Somerset Independents has asked for everyone who paid for LiveStream tickets to get a refund. GFEL are yet to reply to our suggestion. We know that they can afford it, because they are a multi-million pound revenue business.

Organisers of NASS were reportedly "gutted" on 3rd June that it was to be postponed, just a day after the 2nd June report by Rebecca Cook of SomersetLive about "strict rules" that would be applied to the NASS Festival. Previous NASS festivals had caused complaints from local residents and the closing of a local school.

Mendip District Council has been accused by Pilton residents of "bending over backwards" for GFEL in granting a license for another "spin-off" event at Worthy Farm in September.

Whether the re-scheduled date for NASS Festival will clash with, or cause public health concerns over Covid-19, as have been raised about the Pilton September concert, are open questions.

Somerset Independents will continue to monitor events closely.

Full Statement by Organisers of NASS Festival

"Hey NASS Fam,

Since we last updated you, we’ve been exploring every single option to run NASS in July and give you all the epic start to your Summer you so deserve. Unfortunately, we’ve had to make the difficult decision to reschedule NASS to September. The festival will now take place on 23rd - 26th September 2021.

Like so many in our incredible industry, we’ve been waiting for further clarity from the UK Government regarding festivals. Despite the really positive results from last month’s trial events in Liverpool, we still don’t know if we’ll be able to run in July and what guidelines could be in place.

We’ve held on as long as we can but running a show like NASS is hugely complicated. With only a few weeks to go, and no guidelines from the UK Government, we’ve simply ran out of time.

We’re determined to run NASS in 2021 and reunite with as many of you as possible.

We’ve already spoken to everyone on the bill, and every artist is working hard with us to deliver the biggest NASS ever. We’re expecting the majority of acts to join us in September and we’ll be sharing our full line up next week.

If you had tickets for our July show, and want to join us in September you don’t have to do anything. Your tickets will automatically transfer to our new dates, and you’ll receive a new confirmation email at the end of June. As always, if we’re unable to go ahead on our new dates, you’ll be able to get a refund.

We’re gutted some of you won’t be able to join us in September and we haven’t taken this decision lightly. If you’re not able to make the show, you have two options. You can either keep your ticket for NASS 2022 – which will take place 7th - 10th July 2022 – or get a refund if you prefer. We’ll be sending an email to you on Thursday 10th June with more info.

A massive thanks to everyone who kept their tickets from last Summer or bought a ticket for July 2021. We’re forever grateful for your support.

Much love,

NASS HQ "