Plans for a major festival at Shoreham Airport have taken a step forward but local MP Tim Loughton says that local residents must have more say on the proposals to ensure that disruption to the local area is kept to a minimum.
This week,Adur District Council granted a licence to SJM Concerts, which intends to hold a music festival on the first weekend in June, with up to 35,000 attending each day.
A meeting of the licensing committee was held over two sessions in order to hear all the evidence, with the decision published on Wednesday.
The council said 92 conditions had been imposed on the organisers.
Committee chairman Councillor David Simmons said the application was to authorise the provision of alcohol, late-night refreshment and entertainment, but it was not an application seeking permission to hold events.
More details on the proposed event would be released when they were available, he said. The company would be holding public meetings for residents, he added.
Conditions placed on the licence include setting attendee numbers at 35,000 and finishing the event at 01:00 instead of 03:00 as initially proposed.
However, whilst the Shoreham MP has given a cautious welcome to the restrictions placed on the event he insists that there must be proper public consultation before any action is taken by SJM concerts.
He said:
As I said initially this application got off to a very bad start when residents found out about it virtually by accident, as did I. In a potentially controversial project of this size it would have been much better if there had been full transparency and local residents had been fully engaged to address their obvious concerns right from the start. Whilst I appreciate the benefits that such a festival could have for the local economy and Shoreham’s image, and the company managing the event have a good track record, there are many details still to be sorted out around handling of noise levels and getting everyone on and off the site safely and with minimal disruption to residents. It is essential therefore that local people and councillors have as much information as possible as soon as possible and are listened to