Cuffley: Bottlefest music festival move halted over safety concerns

Colesdale Farm in Cuffley has a premises licence and holds other shows and events

Plans to relocate a music festival to a bigger venue have been halted by a council.

The organisers of Bottlefest want to move it from Surrey to Colesdale Farm in Cuffley, Hertfordshire.

But Welwyn Hatfield Borough Council has refused a request for a licence over police safety concerns.

Festival organisers told the authority there was "a lack of an appropriate route for grassroots festivals" to be put on.

The authority said a new application could be submitted.

Bottlefest organisers have described the festival as a "small, community focused live music event that promotes young DJs and artists" but it had grown too big for its current site.

Welwyn Hatfield Council refused a licence for Bottlefest over police safety concerns

Colesdale Farm has a premises licence, but the 499-person event, scheduled from 1-3 September, was being planned on a new part of the farm.

It had been proposed using a Temporary Event Notice (TEN), which permits events for under 500 people, the Local Democracy Reporting Service said.

At a hearing of the council's licensing sub-committee, organiser Thomas Hollidge said this had been put to the team as the appropriate route.

He said the team was "willing to work to conditions".

"We don't see you as opposition who we are arguing against - we see this as a collaborative effort," he said.

"We believe if you cannot approve this TEN on account of a lack of trust and accountability, this is the fault of a lack of an appropriate route for grassroots festivals of our size."

'Disheartening'

Hertfordshire Constabulary licensing officer, Alex Kettle-Stupka, said the 05:00 finish time - and the wish to sell alcohol until then, "significantly increases risk" as it allowed "large amounts of alcohol to be consumed" and "crime and disorder risks increase significantly past midnight".

Police objections also included fears for public safety if festival-goers left the site at night to walk to Cuffley railway station.

Committee chair, Conservative councillor Julie Cragg, said the authority found it "impossible to ignore the very serious and detailed concerns set out by the police".

"We would like to ask the applicants to please speak to people, have conversations and produce another application, if they are so minded," she said.

After the hearing, a Bottlefest spokesman said the outcome was "hugely disappointing" for them and "disheartening for all grassroots music events".

"We will not let this dampen our efforts and will continue to champion the grassroots music scene and empower emerging talent through looking to work with alternative authorities," he said.