Mendip Council - Scrutiny of 2022 festival

[stephos83]

The papers for their forthcoming meeting are now available here: https://www.mendip.gov.uk/article/11087/Scrutiny-Board-Tuesday-22-November-2022

Not read them yet - usually some interesting bits in them...

[Freddyflintstonree]

Good to see crowd safety improvements being suggested

[Freddyflintstonree]

[giantkatestacks]

Actually very sensible recommendations - surprised how on the ball they are actually. Interesting too that there is a problem with adults camping in Cockmill. Who are these people?

[mazola]

RE 7.2, if you are the type of arsehole who would piss up the blue tarpaulin instead of waiting 5 minutes to get to a urinal, I doubt a sign is going to change your mind

[giantkatestacks]

In the first report this: With regard to offsite impacts in Pilton and other nearby urban areas within the northern compass quadrant, noise levels were not dissimilar to 2019, and the issue remained that the noise levels or loudness did not drop away significantly at 00.30 after the main stages finished. The fall off beyond this time until all venues ceased at 6am was at best, gradual. Given the significant numbers of people on site and the noise generating infrastructure involved in maintaining the site, a significant drop in noise level would not be expected to occur, however the high contribution of music noise and risk of bass beat adverse effects in 2022 and previously, strengthens the Council’s viewpoint that more consideration needs to be invested to control the music noise.

We are camped up near the farmhouse and it is mostly whatever The Beat Hotel has turned into - it just needs re-siting further into Silver Hayes

[moogster]

Very interesting. I'm a bit worried about the part where they point out there's improvement needed on the traders handwashing topic 😒

 

[giantkatestacks]

1 minute ago, moogster said:

Very interesting. I'm a bit worried about the part where they point out there's improvement needed on the traders handwashing topic 😒

 

It made me smile how they were trying to get the tipi field caterers to be more compliant with the rules. 

[Skip997]

3 minutes ago, giantkatestacks said:

In the first report this: With regard to offsite impacts in Pilton and other nearby urban areas within the northern compass quadrant, noise levels were not dissimilar to 2019, and the issue remained that the noise levels or loudness did not drop away significantly at 00.30 after the main stages finished. The fall off beyond this time until all venues ceased at 6am was at best, gradual. Given the significant numbers of people on site and the noise generating infrastructure involved in maintaining the site, a significant drop in noise level would not be expected to occur, however the high contribution of music noise and risk of bass beat adverse effects in 2022 and previously, strengthens the Council’s viewpoint that more consideration needs to be invested to control the music noise.

We are camped up near the farmhouse and it is mostly whatever The Beat Hotel has turned into - it just needs re-siting further into Silver Hayes

This section is worrying. It was far too quiet at several stages this year. You really shouldn't be able to hold/hear conversations in the first few rows of any gig.

 

[moogster]

I'm guessing the Worthy View climb will be different than this year's. But I think that given the amount of comments I heard from staff during the fest that was probably already on the list to change for next year.

[Skip997]

1 minute ago, giantkatestacks said:

It made me smile how they were trying to get the tipi field caterers to be more compliant with the rules. 

Never going to happen.

[giantkatestacks]

5 minutes ago, Skip997 said:

This section is worrying. It was far too quiet at several stages this year. You really shouldn't be able to hold/hear conversations in the first few rows of any gig.

 

They specify that it isnt SEC though, its Pilton noise which predominently comes from Beat Hotel location and markets I think.

[rgill3]

Interesting the point about the paper cups littering. Wouldn't the idea of reusable plastic cups mean they get littered again? Unless the festival was to adopt some kind of metal cups similar to the water bottles they have or a token system in which you'd trade that in when getting a pint otherwise you'd be charged for the cup.

I'm sure somebody could better explain the token system as I'd imagine it'd be in place at other festivals. It was at Strafwerk in Amsterdam this summer, but I had no idea what was going on and ended up with a large collection of tokens.

[giantkatestacks]

2 minutes ago, rgill3 said:

Interesting the point about the paper cups littering. Wouldn't the idea of reusable plastic cups mean they get littered again? Unless the festival was to adopt some kind of metal cups similar to the water bottles they have or a token system in which you'd trade that in when getting a pint otherwise you'd be charged for the cup.

I'm sure somebody could better explain the token system as I'd imagine it'd be in place at other festivals. It was at Strafwerk in Amsterdam this summer, but I had no idea what was going on and ended up with a large collection of tokens.

I find this one a bit odd as there's so much less paper cup waste. Plus the plastic ones shatter when they are dropped/driven over/stood on but if they have crunched the numbers from the RC then fair enough. Maybe they are mostly going in the bins so we dont see them out on the fields as much.

[gigpusher]

25 minutes ago, giantkatestacks said:

Actually very sensible recommendations - surprised how on the ball they are actually. Interesting too that there is a problem with adults camping in Cockmill. Who are these people?

I don't understand why any group of adults would want to be in with families unless a rare case of one couple without kids wanting to stay with friends who have kids otherwise all the kids would have you awake really early. 

[gfa]

1 hour ago, giantkatestacks said:

Actually very sensible recommendations - surprised how on the ball they are actually. Interesting too that there is a problem with adults camping in Cockmill. Who are these people?

 

1 hour ago, gigpusher said:

I don't understand why any group of adults would want to be in with families unless a rare case of one couple without kids wanting to stay with friends who have kids otherwise all the kids would have you awake really early. 

Good location - very near SE corner and obviously pyramid, WH etc too

was there nothing about drugs?

[marathonsteve]

1 hour ago, giantkatestacks said:

Actually very sensible recommendations - surprised how on the ball they are actually. Interesting too that there is a problem with adults camping in Cockmill. Who are these people?

I am sure I saw Stewards on at least one gate to prevent this happening so its a bit odd not to say bizarre and maybe a little worrying.

[Neil]

all the bits i read were very positive.

[Skip997]

1 minute ago, Neil said:

all the bits i read were very positive.

Haven't read it all.

Anything about the "elephant in the room" - overcrowding and the need to reduce capacity.

Actually thinking about ticket sale has passed so I guess the horse has bolted.

Anyone know how many tickets were sold for next year?

[moogster]

19 minutes ago, Skip997 said:

Haven't read it all.

Anything about the "elephant in the room" - overcrowding and the need to reduce capacity.

Actually thinking about ticket sale has passed so I guess the horse has bolted.

Anyone know how many tickets were sold for next year?

More about spreading the crowds better.

[Levitz]

All pretty sensible stuff tbh

[p.pete]

42 minutes ago, gfa said:

 

Good location - very near SE corner and obviously pyramid, WH etc too

was there nothing about drugs?

It is a great location, but would say Kidney Mead is better and it's only marginally better than Big Ground, in that corner of the site.  I thought Cockmill Meadow was one of the quickest areas to fill up through families alone - but thinking about it with people arriving earlier and earlier that is an arms race that people with kids are likely to lose.  

I'd be interested in what proportion of people camping there have arrived with kids, or want to stay there because they are with friends with kids, versus how many are camping there purely because of the location?  I hope it's not many, and just a case of people getting very vocal about any number being too many, but would there be any way of prioritising (slightly) earlier access into the festival for those arriving with littleuns?

[gfa]

1 minute ago, p.pete said:

It is a great location, but would say Kidney Mead is better and it's only marginally better than Big Ground, in that corner of the site.  I thought Cockmill Meadow was one of the quickest areas to fill up through families alone - but thinking about it with people arriving earlier and earlier that is an arms race that people with kids are likely to lose.  

I'd be interested in what proportion of people camping there have arrived with kids, or want to stay there because they are with friends with kids, versus how many are camping there purely because of the location?  I hope it's not many, and just a case of people getting very vocal about any number being too many, but would there be any way of prioritising (slightly) earlier access into the festival for those arriving with littleuns?

Family lane isn't the worst idea?

[p.pete]

2 minutes ago, gfa said:

Family lane isn't the worst idea?

I can see lots of problems with it - people get tetchy when queueing if they see others going a different direction.  Could be a lane established in every queue, e.g. at the very right or very left, which is intended for families - but then you look at the run-up to Gate B, closest to that camping field, and you just despair pretty quickly. 

Might end up with more families - for better or worse 🙂 - if they thought they could start the festival with a little less stress and hassle, and presumably Cockmill still wouldn't be big enough but they'd have a chance of somewhere not too far off it.  As long as people were arriving with the intention of looking after their kids, not just availing of them to assist arrival and then abandoning them 😄 

[Ayrshire Chris]

Good to see the worthy view access being  reviewed. To be honest the previous access was safer and easier to negotiate. The new path had too many loose stones and gravel and would have been safer with sections of steps and maybe a handrail.  If it had rained heavily there would have been problems. The view going up and down was nice though!