Bray Parish Council withdraws Fi.Fest licensing objection

A parish council has withdrawn its objection to longer hours at the popular Fi.Fest music festival – amid controversy over its decision to challenge this in the first place.

Fi.Fest takes place in July across two days. For the last couple of years, it has put on a ‘Friday pre-party’ in the evenings, ahead of main event on Saturday.

In September, festival organiser Lee Page applied to extend the licence into Friday daytime, playing music from noon to 11pm and selling alcohol until 10.30pm.

Bray Parish Council (BPC) lodged an objection on a number of grounds, including traffic impacts and noise disturbance.

But Mr Page raised strong concerns about how it was done – specifically, the lack of public debate in advance of the decision, questioning if this followed ‘democratic protocols’.

Writing on Facebook, he branded the objection as ‘scaremongering… based on absolutely no evidence’ and said he intended to fight back in court if necessary.

At a BPC planning committee meeting on Monday (October 6) councillors clarified the situation.

Councillor Mike Parkinson said that the parish council’s stance was ‘substantially’ based on an email he sent to all councillors after some residents raised their concerns during a BPC surgery on September 4.

Cllr Parkinson said: “It was quite clear for me that there were some reservations amongst the residents about this variation in the licence.

“This objection is purely and simply based around perhaps asking a few questions [to residents]. [It wasn’t] motivated by any kind of personal animosity.”

He said two other councillors raised their own objections.

But at the previous BPC planning committee meeting (September 1) there was no public vote because the application to vary Fi.Fest’s licence was not on the agenda.

At the meeting on Monday evening, Cllr Gurch Singh suggested the parish council withdraw its objection.

He said: “My main concern is that [our objection] has triggered a legal hearing and it could put [the parish council] potentially at serious risk – financial and reputational.

“What I would feel more comfortable with is if we take a break and take a step back from the process. We allow the borough to make a decision.”

But other councillors’ still harboured some disquiet.

Cllr Derek Wilson said: “The main concerns appear to be with the education of our children – and the fact that they could actually be disturbed during the day.

“There is no reason why it couldn’t start later.”

By contrast, residents at the meeting supported the festival and asked councillors to do ‘the right thing.’

Maidonian Andrew Hill said: “We lost the Tenpin [Bowling], we lost the nightclubs.

“Are there really people in this room who want to take away the Fi.Fest music festival from 5,000 young people and adults who look forward to this event all year?

“It is not too late to do the right thing and apologise, especially to all the people who really want this event and are really looking forward to it.”

Ultimately, parish councillors voted in favour of withdrawing their objection.

The application to vary Fi.Fest’s licence will be decided on at a later date by the Royal Borough.