The report from Cllr Jonathan Bacon, the Cabinet member for Planning and Regulatory Matters, submitted to last night’s Full Council meeting revealed that Bestival organisers have been given approval to increase capacity at the Robin Hill site to 79,999.
His report explained that no hearing was necessary because, “all the representations made were responded to leaving no outstanding issues”.
It goes on to say that the licence will remain in place for an ‘indefinite period’.
However, the Event Safety and Operational Plan (ESOP) will be reviewed on an annual basis, with this year’s ESOP due to be signed off by the council by 21 August.
Update: Only 55,000 ticket sales
Following a query made on Facebook by Russell Yewdall, a Bestival spokesperson said,
“Our new festival license for 79,999 people is in place to cope with the demands of our huge creative and site build teams, as well as the vast number of artists and crews that perform at the festival. We are still only selling 55,000 tickets for festival-goers.
“No other shows of this size have so many stages and artists, so the capacity increase allows us to keep growing the entertainment at the festival year on year while keeping the festival’s boutique ethos.”
