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Glastonbury Festival secures permanent planning permission from local council
By Chris Cooke | Published on Wednesday 5 April 2023
Glastonbury Festival has secured permanent planning permission from its local council, which organisers say will “provide more certainty and additional flexibility” for the staging of the festival and related events on the Worthy Farm site in Somerset.
Although the regular run ins between Glastonbury Festival and Mendip District Council that used to occur back in the day are now very much in the distant past, the event was nevertheless relying on rolling temporary planning permission from the council, an arrangement that was due to expire in 2024.
The festival’s organisers were advised that a further extension of that arrangement was unlikely, because it was “contrary to best planning practice” as laid out by the UK government.
To that end, those organisers, working with a consultancy called Planning Sphere, applied for permanent planning permission for the festival and associated events. And that has now been granted.
The new arrangement will allow for the “permanent regularisation” of the event’s Pyramid Stage and a building currently used for storage and recycling, as well as the allocation of land to accommodate the temporary festival workforce.
Though the festival itself will still be subject to the terms of its official licence, which – among other things – sets limits on capacity and noise levels.
Planning Sphere told reporters: “The grant of planning permission will provide certainty and secure the future of the largest and most iconic music and performing arts festival in Europe”.
The permanent planning permission was granted just before Mendip District Council was basically abolished, it being merged into the all new Somerset Council.
