Four-day music festival refused licence in Cornwall

A music festival in Cornwall has been refused a licence after councillors said it would be in the wrong location and had “serious public safety concerns”.

Dean Hazell had applied for a licence to hold a four-day event at Perranporth Airfield. The event was set to have international DJs and bands performing.

Mr Hazell had applied to hold a Hypnosis event at the airfield over the August Bank Holiday weekend for up to 7,500 people.

However, Cornwall Council’s licensing act sub committee refused the licence after hearing concerns about noise disturbance and public safety regarding the planned event.

A total of 64 people had submitted objections to the festival and the council’s own environmental protection department had also objected over concerns about noise nuisance.

Mr Hazell told the committee that he had more than 30 years experience in hosting large events around the country as well as in Cornwall.

He said that he had organised a number of events at the former Cornwall Coliseum at Carlyon Bay including a festival for the solar eclipse in 1999.

He said that the planned festival would cater for a wide range of musical tastes saying there would be jazz, reggae, hip hop, techno and electronic music amongst the performances.

He said there would be three marquees on the site with the largest capable of holding 6,000 people.

Mr Hazell said he had commissioned traffic management and noise management studies ahead of the event and said that they included plans which were in line with events of this scale.

He said that whilst he wanted a licence to run until 1am the music would be turned down after 11pm.

Miranda Flanagan, from Cornwall Council’s environmental protection unit, said that they did not consider that the site was suitable for a music festival.

She said that previous music events held in 2015 and 2021 had resulted in noise complaints and said that the department was already dealing with more than 100 noise complaints from activities on the airfield.

She said that the event was likely to cause noise nuisance for people living near to the site as well as those further afield. Councillors heard that officers felt that nobody would be able to hold an event at the location without causing public nuisance.

She added: “We believe that (because of) the elevated location of the site it is an inappropriate site for a music event for 7,500 people and regulated entertainment until 1am.”

Environmental protection officer Mark Hitchens, who had previously attended the 2015 event when complaints were made, added: “My experience of that site is that anything after 11pm is going to cause disturbance.

"We are not coming from a place of absolutely no experience of noise issues at this site, we are coming from a place of experience, investigating and dealing with noise complaints. In this location it is just not suitable for such an event.”

The committee also heard from two of the local residents who had objected to the application who both said that they were not only concerned about noise - but also about traffic generated by the event and the safety of those attending, particularly due to the proximity of the cliffs to the festival site.

The committee agreed unanimously to refuse the application saying that there were no conditions which could be placed on any licence to address their concerns.

They said that they were concerned that the event would not be able to prevent public nuisance and “there would be a significant noise disturbance to people living in the area”.

Explaining their decision they stated: “members concluded that this event was in the wrong location, residents and businesses would be subject to public nuisance and there were serious public safety concerns.”

Credit: Richard Whitehouse, Local Democracy Reporter