aristocratic row over noise at new Wilderness Festival

The MAMA Group organised new festival, Wilderness set to be held at Cornbury Park in Oxfordshire has become the subject of an aristocratic row, according to a report in The Telegraph, (here).

A row has developed between Lord Rotherwick, owner of the Cornbury Park estate in Oxfordshire, and his neighbour Rosita Marlborough, the former wife of the 11th Duke of Marlborough, who along with other residents have complained to West Oxfordshire district council about Lord Rotherwick's plans to hold four festivals, which they told the The Telegraph would force them to endure "incessant noise" and would render their properties "uninhabitable".

Lord Rotherwick has, as previously reported, applied for a licence to hold four 20,000-capacity festivals a year on his land.

In order to hold the four new festivals organisers MAMA Group and Lord Rotherwick applied for new licences, and received objections from locals including Rosita Marlborough who complained about the festivals and 10 other planned events to be held in the area.

The original licensing application has since been modified to include noise and traffic restrictions, and the council will hear the new application on Monday 10th January. There are no acts confirmed yet for the new event and ticket prices are not yet confirmed and are not yet on sale.

"There has been a considerable amount of misunderstanding on this issue," Lord Rotherwick told The Daily Telegraph. "Local people who live next door to us will always have concerns, but we are not talking about anything other than family-friendly festivals. We do not run many events. We are not Blenheim."

The first event to be announced is Wilderness festival which will take place from Friday 1st, until Sunday 3rd July (license permitting) with a capacity double that of the previous Cornbury Festival which for the past seven years had been hosted on the peer's estate until the company that organised the festival collapsed last year owing creditors almost £1.5m.

Meanwhile the relocated Hugh Phillimore run Cornbury Festival have had their license granted for the same weekend at their new location, just down the road at Great Tew, and earlybird tickets are expected on sale soon.

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