Glastonbury 2003: the Organisers strike back!
03 January 2003
The application will be sent out for consultation to the police and other relevant organisations, and a meeting will subsequently
be held to decide whether or not to grant the new license. This is mooted to be in early Febuary.
The unexpected refusal
of the original license application came as a great shock to the festival organisers and industry alike, as Eavis felt it
was their best application yet. Following the success of the 2002 Glastonbury Festival (where crime and congestion were significantly
lower than previous years), the police and council were in favour of the licence being granted (for the first time in the
festival's 32 years history!). However, councellors voted against the application by 5 votes to 4, in a 5 hour meeting held
on December 12th. Yet, 6 of the committee members were absent, and Eavis belives that this dealt a serious blow to his chances.
Ironically,
the strongest objections raised against the license concerned the success of the new £1.5m super-fence in keeping gatecrashers
out of the festival - and roaming through the surrounding village and private farmland, posing a 'threat' to the environment
and the security of inhabitants. In response, Eavis pledged to increase security and police presence above the recommended
level suggetsed by police.
He said, of the refusal, "We are very disappointed in the outcome of the Regulatory Board
Meeting. We had a robust application for the 2003 Festival which addressed the concerns of villagers and did not deserve to
be turned down. We will be appealing to magistrates with all the vigour we can muster."
Click here to see our coverage of the original Regulatory Board Meeting.
If the new
license is successful, Glastonbury 2003 will take place on the 27th, 28th and 29th June, with R.E.M. already confirmed to
headline the first night.
Related Artists
Related Events
Related Articles
Hide Search Results
