Glastonbury licence hearing date set

Mendip Council, which issues the licence for Glastonbury Festival, have put on their website details about the licence hearing. The hearing is set for just a week before tickets are due to go on sale, for Monday 26th March. A decision on the application is expected to be made at the hearing.

Due to the new licencing laws that came into force just over a year ago the Festival is now able to apply for a licence to cover a number of years. The Festival has made an application for four years, leading up to the next 'year off' for the Festival in 2011.

The application is for an annual event to be held on a maximum of six days, with the dates for this year's event from Wednesday 20th to Monday 25th June. These six days cover the total amount of time the site would be open, but the music on the main stages would be limited to the three core festival days as in previous years.

As expected from previous reports, the Festival wants to increase the number of attendees from 150,000 to 177,500, on a larger site with a new campsite and entertainment area. Note that those numbers are for the total attendees, including traders, staff, and performers - the number of tickets available to buy if this licence application is granted is expected to be 135,000 weekend tickets (plus 5,000 Sunday-only tickets available only to people living locally).

Under the new licensing laws local interested parties can put forward their views for consideration, but any comments must be made in writing to the district council's licensing department by March 9. The council's licensing department is now gathering the views of the responsible authorities - the police, fire brigade, environmental health, trading standards, planning and social services - to ensure the application meets the required standards for prevention of crime and disorder, public safety, prevention of public nuisance, and protection of children from harm.

Don't forget, to be able to buy tickets to this year's festival you need to register in advance. Registration can be done online from http://www.glastonburyregistration.co.uk/, or via normal post by either downloading the form from here, or by collecting the form at your local branch of Millets (who will donate 10p to WaterAid for every form they issue).

You can register at any time between now and midnight on Wednesday 28th February 2007. For details on the registration process click here.

Glastonbury Festival will take place at Worthy Farm, Pilton, Somerset from Friday 22nd to Sunday 24th June (with the gates opening on the Wednesday).

As first revealed by eFestivals in January, this year's headliners will be The Killers, Arctic Monkeys, and The Who - check out the latest and best Glastonbury rumours. If you hear of a band that's playing, please let us know.

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