Agenda item

To consider the report.

The committee received a report that covered the statutory functions the council operates at Glastonbury Festival: Licensing, Food Safety, Structural Safety, Nuisance Prevention. They explained the fee of £32,350 that was charged to Glastonbury Festival for operating these services, and broke down some of the costs involved. Public Health, Civil Contigencies, Highways and Environmental Health are also involved. Overall the festival in 2023 was well run and majority of recommendations made were implemented. The recommendations are for continuous improvement and there were two particular areas: developing further measures to address noise, and crowd distribution and communication for crowd flows.

The chair summed up the key points of the discussion around the cost to the council and how much of it can be recouped, and requested further feedback from discussions with the festival. As 2024 will be the first year the festival is handled entirely by the Unitary Authority, it’s important that this report returns next year.

Dave Coles, Head of Regulatory Services, gave a report that covered the statutory functions the council operates at Glastonbury Festival: Licensing, Food Safety, Structural Safety, Nuisance Prevention. They explained the fee of £32,350 that was charged to Glastonbury Festival for operating these services, and broke down some of the costs involved. Public Health, Civil Contigencies, Highways and Environmental Health are also involved. Overall the festival in 2023 was well run and majority of recommendations made were implemented. The recommendations are for continuous improvement and there were two particular areas: developing further measures to address noise, and crowd distribution and communication for crowd flows.

During the discussion, the following points were raised and responded to.

• Given that this was previously managed by Mendip District Council, it is a testament to a small council dealing with a global event and having relatively few problems.
• Is there an overall command group that meets to liaise, so teams such as highways and environmental health are not working in isolation? All the teams are talking to each other, there is a multi-agency group that meets monthly and gets fed back to the Executive Directors and Executive Leadership Team. Since unitary, it is slicker to have one point of contact from the council to the festival.
• Per attendee, the fee that is charged is very low, only pennies, when there is a huge amount of work involved from all of the services. Why aren’t those costs acknowledged and dealt with? The fee is statutory and cannot be amended.
• Is it rated low because it takes place on farmland? The licensing fee was set in 2003 and applies to all licenses, regardless of size. They have not changed since 2005, but we have been lobbying the government to have those fees raised. The licensing act provides a table of values. The average for a pub would be £180 a year. The fee is set by number of attendees, and over 90,000 is the £32,350 figure that is the maximum we can charge for a license. Other services such as Police, Ambulance, and Fire Service will have their own negotiations with Glastonbury.
• Can we identify how much it costs us? Later this week there is a conversation about our costs and whether the festival should pay us for the resources that we have on site. SWAST, Police, and the Fire Service are paid for the resources that they have on site.
• The festival is fantastic but the current payment model is flawed, as there is not the capacity within the council to deal with them and not enough for councils to be adequately supported. We should take the position where we expect our costs are covered, and the licensing fee does not do that.
• If the Committee Members made a recommendation to Executive about the licensing fee would that go to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing, and Communities? There was a recent consultation on licensing fees that the council participated in.
• Where do Parish Councils and communities have a voice in the impact of the festival on them? Glastonbury Festival take on the responsibility of liaising with Parish Councils, including Pilton. Those meetings are attended by a council officer, but Somerset council doesn’t get personally involved in that liaison.
• Given that we are the licensing body, shouldn’t we be driving those conversations? Officers attend those meetings and collect the feedback and take it into consideration. We can look at more of this going forward now that we are a unitary authority.
• Can the Ward Members be involved in that as well? That is something that can be looked at. Villages in the area liaise with the festival, and ward members are notified of any variations or changes to the license. Ward Members are included in Parish Council meetings.
• The communication needs to be further improved, with councillors more involved. The council’s role is primarily licensing and monitoring, and the responsibility for that community engagement lies with Glastonbury Festival, rather than an issue for licensing.
• What are the fees and business rates around the festival? Glastonbury is in a very low band, the rateable value is £87,000 to £125,000 a year. Business Rates are therefore £350 a year.
• Are external campsites licensed separately and is there a potential for revenue there? External campsites give a notice of a temporary event that costs £21. This is also a statutory fee.
• Point of clarification on noise levels, what is the maximum on the periphery? It would be impossible to give a single figure of noise level at the periphery, because the focus is on low frequency energy leaving the site, and environmental factors have an impact on that.
• The team have done a great job this year, coming together under LGR and keeping communication strong, and we should learn from that success.
• If they are in breach of the noise, what is the process from then on? If there are problems with the license then a review could be called, to go to a licensing subcommittee. We could then remove the license or add conditions. A continued breach would be looking at prosecution.
• Has that process been followed? Yes, two years ago there was a prosecution as Paul McCartney overran past the noise restrictions. The case was settled out of court and Glastonbury received a caution. There was no money involved in the settlement.
• If the settlement involved a fine, who gets that money? It goes to central government, rather than us.
• If there are assaults or incidents on site, do we get reported on that, or is that handled by police? Assaults are dealt with by the police, but there are twice daily debrief meetings at the festival where issues such as assaults are brought, and the council is included in this, so we have access to real time information about it.
• Have there been complaints about the external campsites that are sufficient to warrant a refusal of license? The process for temporary event licenses is different, so they are not subject to Council approval. Environmental Health, Public Health and the Police can object. If there are instances of noise or unruly behaviour, we need people to make a complaint so there is a justification for those organisations to object.
• Glastonbury Festival is a fact of life in the local area, so there won’t be a large amount of complaints about it. The impact on locals is significant, as they can’t work or get to the shop, but people often get on board or go on holiday.
• What are the outcome of the licensing consultation period? It would be useful to get feedback when that period ended. The consultation is on all licensing fees, rather than Glastonbury specifically.

The chair summed up the key points of the discussion around the cost to the council and how much of it can be recouped, and requested further feedback from discussions with the festival. As 2024 will be the first year the festival is handled entirely by the Unitary Authority, its important that this report returns next year.