Councillor demands resident survey following music festival

Geoff Patmore, district councillor for Lancing’s Widewater ward, said the staging of the concert will inevitably have a major impact on residents in Shoreham and Lancing.

Prior to the full Adur District Council meeting tonight, he said: “What I am demanding is that we carry out a real assessment after the event to see what the real affect has been on the community.”

In January, the district council approved two licences to allow festival organiser SJM Concerts the sale of alcohol, late-night refreshments and entertainment at Shoreham Airport.

Mr Patmore said: “Licensing granted by Adur District Council will mean that tens of thousands of people will still be on the airport site until well after 2am.”

Wild Life Festival, which has now sold out, will be holding the event for a maximum of 35,000 people, and the council has imposed 92 conditions which must be met before the festival can go ahead.

Mr Patmore said he fears there will be road congestion, noise, vandalism and trespassing over the festival weekend, and added that councillors ought to listen seriously to what residents of St Nicolas, Marine, Widewater and Mash Barn wards are saying.

During the consultation period, Mr Patmore said the council received 69 letters of objection and one in favour.

The UKIP councillor will also recommend that the festival survey be included as part of the council’s customer service programme to save money.

He said: “There is no reason that the music festival questions cannot be dove-tailed in with other subjects.

“What I would not tolerate, however, is the festival issue being deliberately buried at the back of a long list of other questions.

“This will be a major issue to residents and I want to see a really transparent attempt to take on board the views of those most affected.”

SJM Concerts will be holding a public meeting on March 25, details of where and when to follow.

Fronted by popular acts Disclosure and Rudimental, other UK chart-toppers confirmed for the festival includes Sam Smith, George Ezra, Wu Tang Clan, Annie Mac and Seth Troxler.

The full Adur District Council meeting is at 7pm tonight in the Civic Centre, Ham Road, Shoreham.