Creamfields was yesterday granted its licence, despite opposition from local residents who fear disruptive noise levels.
As previously reported, the annual event is moving venues this year. Previously it was staged at the Liverpool Airfield site in Speke, but redevelopment there means it can no longer be used. The Cream possee have secured a new site in Daresbury, near the North West town of Warrington, but as they went through the process of securing a licence from the local authority to stage the event there, a number of local residents began to air their concerns. Meanwhile a neighbouring council urged officials considering the licence proposal to turn it down on the grounds that the event risks bringing unacceptable levels of noise and an increase crime and anti-social behaviour to a semi-rural setting.
One of the 100 local residents who attended the council hearing considering the licence application this week told reporters: "I believe the proposed event and the influx of people on such a large scale has the potential to do untold harm to the community. We have nothing against Creamfields, but it is a Merseyside-based commercial operation. Do they really care about the area in which we live, other than as a site for this event?"
Nevertheless, officials awarded the event its licence, meaning the festival will now definitely go ahead on the Daresbury site over the August Bank Holiday weekend. Festival organisers, who hope to make the Daresbury site a permanent home for Creamfields, have pledged to consider local residents' concerns in the way they stage the event.