Festival gets licence despite 'Glastonbury' claim

The festival, which attracted thousands of people last year, is due to take place in Priory Park in July

Organisers have won a fight to hold their annual free live arts event in a park despite one resident saying they were "not prepared to be Glastonbury".

The St Neots Festival is due to take place on 6-7 July in Priory Park in the Cambridgeshire town.

Huntingdonshire District Council's licensing committee heard concerns from some neighbours who alluded to the giant festival in Somerset.

On Tuesday, councillors published their decision to grant a licence for the event and said the organisers had satisfied the main concerns that had been raised.

Ben Pitts, one of the organisers from Neotists CIC, applied for the licence to host plays, live and recorded music, and dance performances.

During the committee meeting, one opponent who spoke said: "[Priory Park] is beautiful if you leave it alone.

"I am furious because you keep doing this to this park; you say you love it, but you can’t.

"You could have gone somewhere else."

While there were further concerns about parking, some residents said they were happy the festival was going ahead if the organisers were limited to one event per year, reported the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

Pitts said thousands of people came to the free event last year and feedback was "overwhelmingly positive".

He added that parking would be suspended on Huntingdon Road, which borders the park, as it had last year, and shuttle buses were being arranged to limit private car use.