Welliestock Festival will go ahead in Wellington

Huw Weston, organiser of Welliestock, launched the festival in Wellington in 2016, but this year's event was masked with doubt after police vetoed the original location in April this year.

After working hard to find an alternative to Court Fields School, Mr Weston will be bringing this year's event to the Beech Grove Pitch at Wellington Rugby Club on Saturday (June 30).

RELATED: New location needed for Welliestock music festival

The event remained in the balance on Monday (June 25) after Anna Gorman, who runs The Dolphin pub on Waterloo Road, objected to Mr Weston’s licensing application on the grounds that the event would lead to more anti-social behaviour in the area.

But Taunton Deane Borough Council has allowed the event to proceed, with a number of extra measures being put in place to ensure public safety.

Ms Gorman brought her concerns before the council’s licensing sub-committee, which met at Flook House in Taunton on Monday afternoon (June 25).

The meeting came about after previous mediation talks, involving the council, Mr Weston and Ms Gorman, failed to resolve the latter’s concerns.

In a written statement published before the meeting, Ms Gorman, said: “My public house is in very close proximity to the proposed event site. If the event is not managed properly then problems will arise from antisocial behaviour.

“If there are insufficient toilet facilities and those for refreshment, then attendees will seek alternatives – the toilets in Wellington Park and my pub being the closest available.

“I do not have the staffing capabilities to deal with large numbers of people arriving unexpectedly, or to deal with any potentially violent situations should they arise.”

Ms Gorman suggested that the event be postponed until next year and should be held in an out-of-town venue “such as that used for the Buddhafield Festival”, which is held in mid-July.

She voiced concerns Mr Weston's staff would not be able to identify the know 'trouble makers'. 

Mr Weston said Welliestock was designed to be “a community and family event”, which needed to change its venue in light of its popularity.

He said he would be providing 16 security staff, who would be on the site between Thursday morning (June 28) and Monday morning (July 2).

RELATED: PICTURES: Welliestock photos from 2017

Mr Weston has assured his guests that measures will be in place to reduce disruption and thanked them for their understanding.

He posted this update on the Welliestock Facebook page: "We were advised at our safety advisory meeting this year to introduce a 'no-pass out system' to reduce local disruption moving to and from the site plus the possibility of people leaving the site, going home, having an alcoholic drink and returning several hours later.

"We genuinely hope this doesn’t cause too many problems. We’ve had to work incredibly hard for Welliestock to go ahead and had to make several adjustments to our licensing conditions.

"I know that most families come down for a set amount of time with some leaving earlier than others so we do hope that the above won’t be an inconvenience to yourselves.

"Thank you everyone for your understanding."

He also committed to laying on two further security staff from a different company, who would be on duty between 10am and 11:30pm on the day itself to prevent people heading to Ms Gorman’s pub and committing antisocial behaviour.

Regarding the toilets, he said 20 portable toilets would be provided on the site, along with four urinals and one disabled toilet.

He said: “We are confident that we have everything in place for the whole event to be very successful and well-planned.”

All 400 child’s tickets for Welliestock have been sold, as well as 900 of the 1,000 adult tickets which were printed.

Mr Weston said a total of 1,521 could be accommodated on site, including all ticket-holders, security staff, band members and caterers.

The tickets will operated on a ‘no pass out’ system – meaning that people cannot be readmitted once they have left the festival site.

Mr Weston admitted those who had bought tickets had not been informed of this system being in place – something which drew criticism from Ms Gorman.

She said: “Families who have young children may be wishing to take them home for a sleep and expecting then to return to the event.

“I am very concerned that ticket-holders have not been notified about the ‘no pass out’ system – when you change the rules at short notice, people get very angry very quickly.”

Mr Weston responded that he would take every step necessary to ensure people’s safety, and that he would not “over-sell” tickets (i.e. sell more tickets than the site can accommodate).

He said: “There is never any risk that I would over-sell one ticket for Welliestock. I will never do that.

“I will never risk one kid’s life over a music event. That will never happen at Welliestock.

“We believe we have a very safe site – a very family friendly site. We have a range of music. It’s so appealing for families, who will be the majority of people attending.”

After nearly 40 minutes of deliberation in private, the committee voted to grant Mr Weston his licence, with the following conditions in place:

The licence only covers the 2018 event (meaning Mr Weston will have to reapply if he wishes to stage Welliestock in this areas again next year)

Mr Weston must supply two disabled toilets, not one

The ‘past-out’ system must be advertised on Welliestock’s website and social media accounts within 24 hours, and notices must be put up at the entrances to inform ticket-holders of this

Mr Weston will have to pay if the council has to clean up any litter missed by his litter-pickers or security staff

The licensing team will hold talks with the police over providing information to event marshals about the 23 people banned from Wellington’s pubs

For any future applications, the event management plan must be submitted at least six weeks before the event or before the first ticket is sold, whichever occurs first

Ms Gorman has the right to appeal the committee’s decision within 21 days.

Following the decision, Mr Weston posted a picture of himself and his father on the official Welliestock Facebook page.

The post read: “One very proud Weston senior with junior knowing that Welliestock is on, on, on, on, on! Thank you everyone ever so much. See you Saturday.”