GLASTONBURY FESTIVAL 2002 IS ON!

Sitting through a meeting lasting over 6 hours isn't the greatest fun. But it did put a huge grin on my face at the end of the night!

It was an official-type meeting, you know, agendas, apologies for absence, speakers followed by requests for clarification followed by responses, that sort of thing. When we eventually got down to the nitty-gritty, half an hour had already passed.

Firstly, it was down to Mark Cann for Glastonbury Festivals Ltd (GFL), to present a summary of the application, putting the case for the granting of that all important Public Entertainment License (PEL).

Working closely with the Police and the Council over the last year or so, a plan had been put together which he was sure addressed all concerns, including safety and security.

Following problems in the past, they'd strengthened the way the festival works, bringing in significant expertise to improve the organisation (including the very experienced Melvin Benn as Operations Manager), and as such they were a fit company to run such an event, with safety their number one concern.

GFL requested a PEL to be granted for 140,000 people, broken down as follows:
100,000 tickets for sale
35,000 passes for performers, traders, staff, etc.
5,000 Sunday only tickets, for sale to local residents only.
Although the increase in numbers had expected to be a significant discussion point, very little comment was made about this all evening, with, it seemed, a general acceptance that the site can cope with those numbers.

No Ticket, No Entry!
After having been fined for excessive numbers attending in 2000, GFL are determined to ensure they stay within their licensed numbers. Consequently, many things have changed. The free shuttle bus from Castle Cary station will now only carry people with tickets, as will Badgerline & National Express coaches. There is to be a charge for car parking, with a car-parking ticket needed to be bought at the time of ticket purchase, and only ticketed people and vehicles will be allowed onto the car-parks.

Outlining the new security measures (much of which remains confidential), Marc said they'd be a much higher security presence in all areas: around the fence, at the gates, within the site and in the car parks, and that random checks would be carried out on the security staff and passholders.
The campsites will be illuminated as a crime deterrent, and a greater amount of secure storage will be provided. And the whole she-bang will be watched over 24/7 by CCTV cameras. (Don't go getting paranoid now, they're to enable trouble-spots to be quickly identified, allowing action to be taken sooner, and so having to deal with less of a problem!)

And the fence... it will be 3.6m high, with extra height coming from overhangs, floodlit, watched over by CCTV as well as increased watchtowers. The fence line has changed slightly, to accommodate an extra camping area, and to move it to more secure locations. With a 9ft built-in roadway allowing easy movement of vehicles with security teams, only Swampy (remember him?) - maybe - could tunnel under it.

The Regulatory Board members then questioned Marc (with him deferring to the relevant GFL manager or Michael Eavis when necessary) for clarification on various points, with the occasional irrelevancy thrown in. Over two hours in, a short break was welcomed.

Michael Eavis

Next up for their say were Avon and Somerset Constabulary (ASC). It's been widely publicised this week that they have no objection to the granting of a PEL, and they told the meeting "on paper the application is one of merit". But they then took over an hour to voice their concerns, primarily about the reliability of GFL as the applicant when considering their previous conduct, and the increase in crime into the area. (These days, with performance tables for everything, this is a big deal ... even the Ambulance Service - who didn't object to the granting of the PEL - mentioned the effect it would have on their NHS performance tables).

Chief Superintendent John Buckley said that the "history is one of great anxiety", and that "ASC felt that Glastonbury 2000 was unsafe". But he did concede that "GFL have come a huge distance" in trying to address ASC's concerns.

ASC would not commit to policing inside the site, and outside wouldn't commit to taking certain action to certain circumstances, reasoning that it would be an operational decision at that time. When questioned by the Regulatory Board, taken in isolation the responses given sometimes gave the impression that this was a police force that didn't want to police, and this occasionally led to laughter. To be fair though, the "operational decision at that time" answer makes sense from their angle.

Following (thankfully!) much shorter comments from the not objecting Fire and Ambulance services, and a response from Mark Cann, the floor was opened to public comments, but only one local resident chose to speak, to object.

After another break, the Regulatory Board discussed what they'd heard, and it was soon clear there was at least an element in support of granting the PEL. Eventually, a motion was put to grant the license at the requested numbers, an amendment to set the numbers at 115,000 was defeated, and when the final vote was taken it was, thankfully, 10 - 3 in favour!
Glastonbury 2002 is on!

As part of the license, conditions will be set to specify that certain physical structures, such as the fence, have to be in place by certain dates. GFL said earlier that they expected such milestones to be set (as they had in the past), and wouldn't have a problem complying.

With the whole thing over, there was a media feeding frenzy around Michael. What to do? Join in to hear him say how happy he was, or sneak off for a quick celebratory drink with some of those who've worked so hard behind the scenes putting this successful application together? All round the smiles were large .. to you - you know who you are - THANK YOU!

Tickets are NOT yet on sale. It's expected that tickets will go on sale around the beginning of April - there should be more details next week. The dates for the festival are of course 28-30th June 2002, with the gates opening two days before, on Wednesday 26th June.

Neil

Thanks to Dik for his sterling job of making some sort of sense from my texting, and our apologies for the slow website response on Thursday evening, there were just too many of you! As a result, our system is being upgraded next week.

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