RocknRoots Festival cancelled - again

12:06pm Wednesday 20th August 2008

Comments (2)   Have your say »

THOUSANDS of music lovers hoping to watch famous bands from around the globe perform in Herefordshire over the bank holiday suffered a double blow when a music festival originally planned for Much Marcle was cancelled - twice.

Around 5,000 revellers from all over the country were expected to listen to the likes of Jefferson Starship and Cerys Matthews at the county’s Rock n Roots Festival this weekend.

But organisers finally called it a day after a week of ups and downs following Herefordshire Council’s decision to refuse them a licence last Wednesday.

Promoter Mike Stephens initially called off the gig but then told ticket holders and performers they would be re-located to Chepstow Racecourse.

But on Tuesday morning, following the ‘sheer’ amount of ticket refund requests and the loss of two main acts, it was stopped for good with a statement from the festival team that said: “The disruption is unimaginable!”

Only one major artist, The Wurzels, pulled out after the first announcement meaning all others were still billed to appear.

Manager Sil Wilcox said thousands of pounds would have been lost had he not immediately secured a last minute booking for the group, which had a number one hit in 1976 with Combine Harvester, in Weston-Super-Mare.

But he told the Hereford Times they were ‘very upset’ because the bank holiday is a key date that often sells well in advance.

Question marks regarding the event first appeared when residents of the village near Ross-on-Wye complained of not being properly notified - leading the council’s sub-regulatory committee to scrap it altogether.

A subsequent war of words broke out with Mr Stephens branding the decision a ‘tragedy’ for the county and claiming the music industry would ‘ignore’ Herefordshire in future.

He said only a minority of villagers had a problem with the four-day event and that the police and fire authorities had given it the thumbs up.

But Herefordshire Council hit back by saying it had ‘bent over backwards’ to help with the application process and that other festivals, such as The Big Chill near Ledbury, had always received its full support.

It said locals were ‘up in arms’ because the necessary public notices were not posted correctly and agreed they had not been properly informed.

Environment cabinet member, Councillor John Jarvis, said promoters were encouraged to contact the licensing authority in the very early stages.

“The situation could have been avoided if the correct information had been provided in the first place,” he said.

Mr Stephens and his team now plan to tackle the issues involved, calling it a ‘legal farce’, and said: “We will try to set a precedence through our legal team.”