Porthilly Spirit festival in Cornwall refused licence

The festival was set to be held over the bank holiday weekend at the end of May near Rock

A music, food and wellbeing festival has been refused a licence despite having sold about 700 tickets.

Porthilly Spirit festival was due to take place at the end of May, on a farm near Rock, Cornwall.

Singer Tom Odell was set to perform and number of activities including gong meditation and salt pickling had been planned.

An application for the three-day licence was refused by Cornwall Council which cited concerns about traffic.

The authority's Licensing Act sub committee said it was worried about the safety of road users and pedestrians, the Local Democracy Reporting Service reported.

Will Hermann, owner of Trefresa Farm where the event was set to be held, told the committee the festival was a stepping stone to plans to create a hotel and spa on the site and hold events which would "regenerate the farm for the next 100 years".

'Chaos' concern

The brochure for the festival - due to take place from 24 to 26 May - also listed pop-up restaurants, foraging and bouquet making.

Tickets costs from £15 for a local ticket up to £1,015 for a bell tent sleeping four.

The council received 64 objections to the proposals, with local residents concerned about "chaos" due to the amount of traffic combined with a bank holiday weekend.

There were concerns that a single track road was not suitable to carry the number of vehicles which might be going to and from the site.

The applicants said they had reduced the capacity of the event from 3,000 to 2,000 - including 600 staff - to ease concerns, but after a seven-hour meeting the committee refused permission.

Mr Herrmann said he was disappointed, but he said the festival was not cancelled and a decision would be made on the next steps by Monday.

In the event it had to be cancelled, refunds would be issued, he said.