Wimborne music festival will go ahead after licence granted

Objections had initially been raised by police about We Out Here, but were dropped

Author: Faye Tryhorn & Trevor Bevins - Local Democracy ReporterPublished 3rd Apr 2023

A large-scale music festival will come to Dorset this summer after all - as the full licence has been granted by the Council.

Dorset Police initially raised concerns about the management plans for We Out Here at St Giles Park in Wimborne.

But the objection was dropped after officers were given further information by organisers.

The event, due to take place over five days in August, is expected to attract around 18,000 people.

It's being relocated to Wimborne from a site in Cambridgeshire.

The conditions of the licence agreed with Dorset Council include controls on the sale of alcohol; a crowd management plan; sound management; welfare and safeguarding; a medical plan; staff training and a refusals policy as well as a traffic management plan.

Agreement has also been reached over the use of a Drug Amnesty Box with arrangements made for the safe disposal of its contents as agreed with Dorset Police.

Talks are to continue with the Dorset Area of Natural Beauty Team to try and minimise the impact of the event and its effect on the area’s dark skies designation.

Organiser Joe Barnett said the event will bring together 'some of the best acts on the UK jazz scene to Dorset with other attractions to include talks and cinema, yoga and wellness activities, clothing, craft and record markets, and swimming in the lake'. He continued:

“As organisers we have been running events in the UK and abroad for 20 years and have brought together a team of event professionals with a wealth of experience across large scale event production to deliver this festival."

In a Dorset Council summary of the hearing, they said:

“The Dorset Council Licensing Sub-Committee accepted that the representations from members of the public expressed concerns about noise and disturbance, but felt it was significant that the Police and Environmental Protection Team were respectively satisfied that the conditions agreed between the parties would address those issues and promote the licensing objectives. The detailed plans submitted by the applicant reflected the experience and knowledge of their team and the sub-committee were satisfied that any complaints from the public would be picked up quickly and acted upon via the 24-hour help line.”

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