Glastonbury bosses told how to do better this year

0
2859

Mendip District Council, which oversees the licensing of the five-day music festival, has issued a report on how the 2019 edition was run and, subsequently, how to improve this year’s event.

Though the report revealed the event was “well planned and managed” on a whole, it has called organisers up on nine different areas in which the event should be better organised. These include to clean the toilets more frequently and have better plans in place for hot weather.

Last year, the festival endured a heatwave that caused hour-long queues at the water refill stations. A statement at the time from the festival said: “As always in hot weather, demand for water has increased,” though it continued to say there were provisions in place to accommodate this demand.

The official festival Twitter posted tips for staying safe in the heat.

The council’s report also looked into security staff and food hygiene. Of the security staff, the report concluded that they need “more robust briefing” about what can be brought onto site.

Claire Malcolmson, the group manager for community health at Mendip District Council, said: “The Glastonbury Festival has a worldwide reputation – and as such it means that we have a huge responsibility in ensuring that it undertakes its statutory duties.

“The purpose of the licence, the licensing objectives and other legislation is to ensure event organisers provide a safe event whilst minimising disruption and nuisance to the local community.”

Last year, local residents issued 37 noise complaints about the event. The report has called on organisers to prevent “low frequency noise propagation.”

The report also asked organisers to clarify how they measure the capacity of each area to mitigate “ongoing concerns” about how densely each camping area is filled.

All nine areas in which Mendip District Council has called for improvements are:

  • Alcohol, bars and taxi provisions
  • Camping capacity
  • Crowd safety
  • Food safety and hygiene
  • General health and safety
  • Noise and nuisance
  • Toilets and sanitation
  • Security checks
  • Water supply

The Mendip District Council states that the “Event Management Plan (EMP) describes how the event organiser will comply with the conditions of the Operating Schedule. The EMP can be varied to a degree, for each event to enable continuous improvement.”

2020 will mark Glastonbury’s 50th anniversary.

Molly Hookings
Author: Molly Hookings

Molly joined the editorial team in March 2019. She has several years’ experience working in broadcast and journalism, as well as marketing and PR. Past experience includes working for the BBC and independent publishing houses. If you have a story you think Molly might be interested in, please email: molly@eventindustrynews.com