Latitude Festival to go ahead at "full capacity" if govt guidelines allow
The organiser of the Latitude Festival says it will go ahead this summer "at full capacity" with on-site covid testing, if Government guidelines allow it.
It means up to 40,000 people will be heading to Henham Park in Suffolk, from Thursday, July 22 to Sunday, July 25 after last year's event was cancelled due to the pandemic.
Under the Government's lockdown exit plan there will be no limit on social distancing from June 21.
In the FAQs section on the website it said people who had not been vaccinated would be asked to take a test to ensure they are Covid clear before they enter the festival.
In a statement on the website, founder and creator Melvin Benn said:
“Latitude is a very special festival and we can’t wait to get back to Henham Park, but we will only do that if the prevailing situation in the UK is deemed safe by the government’s Chief Medical Officer and all necessary safety protocols are in place at the event. To that end, I have been working very closely with a number of leading doctors including the Public Health Department at Imperial College London to demonstrate that it can be done safely.
We are confident that our hard work in conforming to the protocols, plus the fact that all UK adults are due to have been offered the vaccine before the festival takes place, PLUS the news of large scale test events rolling out in April and May, will mean that we really can go ahead.
We are delighted that the Culture Secretary, Oliver Dowden, has been so emphatic in his support of festivals and the June 21st re-opening of the culture sector... "The creative industries aren’t some kind of add-on and ‘nice to have’. They are important to our sense of wellbeing and our national life,”. We appreciate his dedication to ensuring the safe opening of the sector.”
Lewis Capaldi has been announced as the Obelisk headliner on the Friday night.
Bastille, will headline on Saturday night and Snow Patrol who had to pull out in 2019 due to illness will perform on the Sunday.