Permission granted for more forest music events

Sting has already been announced as one of the 2025 gigs

Event organisers at a forest in Staffordshire have been given permission to double the number of days they can hold gigs, despite neighbours' objections about noise and traffic.

Forestry England will now be allowed to hold up to eight days of live music at Cannock Chase Forest each year.

Under the new licence, it is also able to screen films and increase capacity from 8,300 people to 9,999 people.

Its yearly Forest Live gigs were an important source of income, bosses said, and helped the organisation fund its work.

Residents of Slitting Mill raised concerns the section of Cannock Chase closed to the public during gigs would now be shut for longer each year.

"The concerts allow customers to enjoy live music and performance in a very attractive and appealing setting," a Forestry England spokesperson said.

"This in itself has a secondary benefit of encouraging those who attend the concerts to come back to the forest with their children on another day to enjoy the trails and other areas."

Officers at Chase District Council said there were noise limits in place and time restrictions on when construction traffic could use local roads.

Forestry England bosses say the live music events are an important source of income

The Forest Live concert series has been running since 2006 at Cannock Chase, and proved controversial locally when it was first proposed.

Headliners in that time have included Status Quo, Jools Holland, Kaiser Chiefs, Paul Weller and Madness.

Organisers have now been told to write to residents in Slitting Mill to inform them of events and future plans

Security must also be positioned at all exit points near residential areas and pedestrian and traffic management measures must be put in place to restrict non-residential vehicles on event nights.

Acts announced so far for 2025 include former Police frontman Sting and indie band James.

This news was gathered by the Local Democracy Reporting Service which covers councils and other public service organisations.