Boardmasters Festival: Plans to increase capacity to 58,000 approved by Cornwall Council

Plans to increase the capacity of Boardmasters music festival at Newquay have been approved by Cornwall councillors.

Organisers had applied for permission to offer another 5,000 tickets this year - bringing the total capacity to 58,000, including staff.

In 2023 just over 48,000 tickets were sold and there were just under 5,000 staff. Last year Lorde, Liam Gallagher, and Florence and the Machine topped the bill.

An online meeting of Cornwall Council’s licensing sub committee, which lasted five hours, heard concerns over emergency evacuation and traffic management.

The lawyer representing Boardmasters at the meeting, Matthew Phipps, said: "We are constantly looking to learn and improve.

"But I am bound to make the point that congestion as an example, delays on the road network, is not public nuisance."

The committee agreed the application to increase capacity, a move which has been welcomed by Newquay BID, which represents businesses in the town.

Mark Warren, from Newquay BID, said: "For Newquay it brings around £40m of additional revenue.

"Now that's not necessarily to the businesses but it's to the tradespeople that come and all the people that work at Boardmasters through the season.

"And there's a lot of pre-work that goes on and a lot of after-work that goes on for the festival so it's a huge part of the revenue that comes into Cornwall and Newquay."

Andrew Topham, Boardmasters CEO and Festival Organiser, said: “We’re delighted that Cornwall Council has granted us permission to expand Boardmasters to a new total capacity of 58,000 from this summer.

"We have an incredible show lined up this year, with headliners Stormzy, Chase & Status and Sam Fender, and a wealth of music and surf talent.

"As always, we will continue our hard work to produce a world-class festival in Cornwall.”