Dear Villagers
As many of you will be aware, IngleFest – an annual 4-day music festival – is planning to relocate from Ingleston Common to Tresham. The festival will take place from Thursday 20th June to Sunday 23rd June within the field immediately beyond the small wood to the east of Burden Court. As music festivals require a licence to operate, InglesFest organisers have applied for one from Stroud District Council. The application is accompanied by a map showing where the event boundaries will be and the general layout as shown in this site plan.
A meeting was held on the evening of 11th March in Tresham Church attended by a good number of villagers where an introduction to the event was given by the event organiser Will Robson. Since this meeting, further information has been forthcoming on the way the event will be managed and what is planned for the weekend.
- No more than 1,000 attendees a day including musicians, catering, security and organisational staff
- Setting up of the event compound will commence on Saturday 15th June and dismantling will be completed by Thursday 27th June.
- Live music is proposed as follows:
- Thursday 20th – 1200-1600 and 1800 till 2200
- Friday 21st – 1600 till 2300 with a silent disco (music played wirelessly to headphones only) 2300 till 0100
- Saturday 22nd – 1600 till 2300 with a silent disco 2300 till 0200
- Sunday is departure day with curfew for leaving the site set as midday.
- There are two licensed bars and three food outlets proposed. Bars are proposed to be operated at the following times:
- Thursday 20th – 1600 till 2200
- Friday 21st – 1200 till 0100
- Saturday 22nd – 1200 till 0100
- There are no planned road closures with attendees to the festival arriving by car being told to come from the A46.
- Site security will be present for the duration of the event.
The Inglesfest organisers have acknowledged that Tresham residents will be put to some inconvenience and have made the following offer in way of compensation:
- 25% discount of all Standard weekend tickets bought by villagers (discount code obtainable from inglefestival@gmail.com);
- £750 donation to the Tresham Village Fund
- An Invitation to three local Primary School and community music groups to perform on the first day of the festival subject to licence conditions with all profits going to charity
The license application will be discussed at the forthcoming Parish Council meeting this Tuesday 9th at Hopkins Hall, Hillesley, with public participation welcomed at the outset. This meeting is anticipated to commence at 1930 but may be slightly delayed as there is an Parish Council AGM being held beforehand at 1900 which may overrun.
Any views on the licence application to support, object or propose compromises to be considered can be sent directly to Stroud District Council in writing to The Licensing Officer at licensing@stroud.gov.uk no later than Monday 22nd April. Should significant views be received a hearing will take place within 20 days of the 22nd April attended by three independent District Councillors to hear representations in person.
If you wish to contact me as your Parish Councillor to inform me of your views, please email me at richard@odwyer-graham.co.uk, however for your view to be considered by Stroud District Council you must provide this directly to the email address above.
Finally, I would encourage villagers to share their views by using the Comment facility at the foot of this post.
Richard Odwyer-Graham
Please see letter to the licensing dept at Stroud District Council in support of Inglefest:
Dear Rachel
As a Tresham resident (The Old Schoolhouse, Tresham) and local business we are delighted that an application for ‘Inglefestival’
has been applied for, to be held in Tresham.
I am familiar with this very friendly family festival having attended in previous years and like most small festivals is a very well organised
event
I would like to lend my absolute support for this event as I has the vast majority of the village.
Tresham is a small village with very few community events and one such as this based around music would be highly welcomed.
With kind regards
Nick Eskins
Good idea, I hope they have good weather.
I too would like to add to all the positive responses to ingle fest and say how excited and delighted Lorna and I are that we have this festival in our village. Who knows, in years to come we could become the New Glastonbury!
Just to let you know that I have written to Stroud District Council expressing my full support.
Francesca and I have written to Stroud: “As long-time residents of Tresham we write to offer our full support for this event to be held on 20-23 June 2019 and hope it will be a great success.”
It is our feeling that the benefits – including bringing a fun event within easy reach of the village; providing an opportunity for youngsters to try their musical skills on an open-air stage; and giving much needed income for the church and village – outweigh possible negatives.
Furthermore, if it were to be unacceptable then it needn’t take place in the future.
We would like to add our support for this event. Would be great for the village and sounds well thought out and organised. Julie and Bob Rowley
Although I love the idea of the festival, I don’t think Tresham is the right venue for this kind of event – number of people and duration.
Access from the A46 is likely to be a problem for the many – several hundred – vehicles coming and going. I know how difficult it can be to get out of the village when people are arriving for a pony club event which is tiny by comparison.
My main objection though is the likely impact on wildlife. Tom receives HLS grant funding to farm his land for the benefit of wildlife – and this shows. There are far more birds on Tom’s land than elsewhere nearby. We have conservation red-listed Corn Buntings, Yellow Wagtails and Yellowhammers nesting in the fields and hedgerows along the lane to the A46 – and it will be their peak breeding season. I spoke to the RSPB yesterday who advised that the noise, lights and physical disruption is highly likely to affect the breeding of these and other species and foraging of owls, bats etc.
I will be raising an objection with SDC on these grounds.
I think the idea of the festival is great but don’t believe that Tresham is a suitable venue. I agree with Claire’s reservations and am also concerned about noise and security. Also it does appear that the impact is likely to last longer than we were first told.
Dear All
I would like to ask that on this comment page we are all mindful of our whole community. It is inevitable that Inglefest will affect residents in different ways. It is so much easier in a small community to post publicly about support and inclusivity than it is about concerns and objections.
I too know the Robsons and have been to Inglefest in the past when tickets were not on general sale and the capacity was a fraction of the proposed 1000. There was no security, no web site selling tickets and no alcohol licence either!
It has now grown and developed into a bigger festival working towards a more commercial future.
I’ve spoken with Will to try and find a location for this new Inglefest that is further away from the village and from all the livestock. Will has confirmed to me that none of the other available locations are suitable for him. In terms of community fund raising, his words to me were that profit from the bar sales at the community day on the Thursday would go to the village. There was no definition of what constituted profit or a guaranteed amount. There is also the matter of an arts council grant for the festival that still needs to be approved.
It is OK to object to a 3 day, alcohol licenced 1000 capacity music festival with camping being held in its proposed location! Objecting is not a personal attack on either the landowner or the organiser. We must all live together and feel able to speak out whatever our views on the proposed festival are.
To be really clear, I personally don’t think an event of the proposed scale is suitable in its current location. I’m confident that those who attend it will have an enjoyable time but I don’t believe it is reasonable for this to happen to the detriment of the very local residents.
I would also point out, that far from this bringing the community together, it is clearly splitting the village into two, with feelings running high on both ‘sides’. I’m worried what this will do for the community in the longer term.
Since moving here six years ago, I’ve spent some memorable nights at Westonbirt’s Forest Live concerts, singing the night away in a magical landscape.
Perhaps this is what some villagers are visualising with Inglefest…..?
But Tresham is clearly not Westonbirt. And a 3 day music festival (or 11 days, from set-up to dismantling) is very different from a 3 hour concert.
Tresham is sandwiched between single track roads with limited gravel passing places (currently in a very poor pot-holed state). Through the village the road narrows into several bottlenecks. In the course of a normal day, the road can be blocked by a fuel truck or a Tesco delivery van. As residents, we’ve all experienced these frustrations from time to time. But it’s a small negative among so many positives of living in Tresham.
Now imagine several hundred vehicles trying to get in and out of Tresham over a 4 day period. I was never very proficient at Maths, but that equation is one that just doesn’t seem to add up.
If all festival traffic is to be directed by the A46, then long queues at the Tresham junction are inevitable. Consequently this will create dangerous tailbacks on the A46,
In the event of an emergency (either at the festival or within the village), delays to ambulance / police / fire vehicles could be a matter of life and death.
Perhaps the most important detail in hosting a successful music festival is its choice of location. And Tresham is not it.
Therefore, I will not be supporting Inglefest and will be writing to SDC to raise my objections.
We think the idea of a festival is good however believe the planned location to be unsuitable.
Noise – there is a plan to measure the amplified music does not exceed 65dB at the rear of our property. Listening to live music at levels of up to 65dB for up to 28 hours over 3 days is going to be a serious nuisance even as music lovers
Disturbance – although the festival is Thursday to Sunday the actual period of disturbance is from Saturday 15th until Thursday 27th June for set up and take down
Traffic – everyone (bar those living very locally) will need to drive to the site. With 1,000+ people it could reasonably be expected for there to be several hundred vehicles. It’s not a great road (single track) and traffic will be in and out for extended hours over the festival period as those not staying overnight arrive and leave and as those on-site need to come and go. Serious congestion could be reasonably expected
Last but for me not least Bio Diversity – we are fortunate to live in the Cotswold AONB and to have a very diverse local ecosystem. You may remember we had 1 of only 4 successfully breeding Hen Harriers pairs in England. Today we are fortunate to have red listed birds that breed locally and many other breeding birds and animals whose numbers are declining nationally. They will be seriously disturbed at a critical point in raising their young. That’s too high a price to pay.
Tresham is totally inappropriate for this music festival. It is like launching the Titanic on a village pond. The location is far too close to residential properties – high noise levels for at least 3 days for 9 hours per day certainly constitute a public nuisance + crime & disorder. Single track road & 1000+ people is unacceptable
Whilst we love the idea of a music festival in Tresham bringing the community together, this is actually a commercial scale event that is clearly having the opposite effect.
Despite being a strong supporter of local music we also have several concerns.
The detailed plans at SDC have no mention of emergency vehicle access or robust traffic flow plans to address the traffic associated with 1000+ attendees. The proposed access to the village for locals via a closed Alderley road which is still single track assumes the roads from Wotton and Hillesley are traffic free. I personally need quick access to to the A46 for work emergencies. Whilst one or two days planned disruption can be managed the duration (11 days including set up and clear up) of this festival may result in me having to stay overnight at work.
The planned numbers of security seems inadequate given the numbers (6 staff for 1000 + attendees) putting at risk safety of bands, festival goers and those in village. (Exacerbated by potential difficulties for emergency access)
We love the idea of involving school children however to date there has been no contact with local primary schools. We also share concerns previously highlighted over litter and impact on wildlife.
Perhaps the organiser would consider moving to one of the alternative sites offered so festival can be enjoyed with less disruption to residents or wildlife?
Hi
I have read all the views with much interest and understand the different opinions.
Could one not change the festival dates?
Maybe July when the fledglings have left their nests in the surrounding hedge rows.
I am in full support of Inglefest having been a few times myself.
It is a very well organised affair and I cannot imagine that intentions would power crime from any “Inglefestival” attendees.
Will could also put a one way system in place as there are two routes in and out of Tresham.
I appreciate this would be difficult to police and tough to reinforce but if the majority did this..(maybe printed on tickets and making up signs)
It may help stop some congestion in the lanes.
I think the festival is a great idea, bringing fun and money into the village…
Why not try it this year??