Peterborough's new rock festival will 'destroy the harmony' of local area, residents say

A new rock festival in Peterborough will “destroy the harmony and upset the equilibrium” of the local area, a resident has claimed.

Dale Banham is one of around 50 residents, most of them from Orton Wistow, who have objected to Nene Valley Rock Festival being held at Horse Meadow and Lynch Farm in Nene Park this summer.

Peterborough City Council (PCC) will decide whether or not to grant festival organisers a licence to play music and serve alcohol at the festival, planned between 31st August and 3rd September, at a hearing on Friday (7th July).

Bands booked to play at the festival include Colosseum, Ten Years After, and The Crazy World of Arthur Brown.

Tickets to see them are on sale; a four–day ticket is priced at £139, while there are other options for day tickets and provisions for caravans and camping.

But the festival’s website stresses that the event remains “subject to licences and contracts”.

Organisers have laid out the conditions they would put in place to make the festival as safe and unobtrusive as possible in their application to PCC, including keeping an incident log, employing security professionals and maintaining CCTV provisions near bars.

But residents neighbouring the park where the festival is planned have raised concerns over noise, increased traffic and anti-social behaviour.

Several also pointed out that organisers, under the business name NVRF Ltd, have applied for a licence lasting seven days, while the festival is planned for four, raising concerns over possible extra events not currently accounted for.

Veronica Haywood, another Orton Wistow resident, wrote in her objection that “a proposed heavy metal concert in particular fills me with dread on many levels” and that she will “feel unsafe with so many alcohol-fuelled strangers at the end of my road”.

Paul Ryan, meanwhile, wrote that PCC and police “have not been able to deal with the car cruisers at Orton Southgate”, suggesting that “management of these 4–day rock music events will be reactive at best”.

Another objection, attributed to Edward Moane, says: “I am 6 and I go to bed early and don’t want to be kept up until late by loud music for 4 days in a row. This will mean that I am tired and won’t feel very well.

“I am returning to school on 4 September and I won’t be able to give my best if I have been kept awake in the 4 days prior to me returning. I will be unable to enjoy the last few days of the school holidays if I am tired.”

David Turnock, chair of Peterborough Civic Society, wrote: “We feel that [Nene Park Trust’s] determination to encourage such events runs counter to its duty and responsibility to operate the country park as an amenity for the whole of the city, with particular care for wildlife and nature conservation.

“Hitherto, events in the Park have been staged only on the main meadows (Oak Meadow and Coney Meadow) which are clearly more suitable. With this proposed Festival, however, event promotion will be moving into areas of the Park that have been kept quiet and undisturbed for the past fifty years.”

Nene Park Trust is not involved in organising the festival but cares for the park where it’ll be held if it goes ahead.

There are no objections from responsible authorities; an earlier representation from PCC’s Environmental Team was withdrawn after mediation.

The licensing hearing will be held at 1:30pm on Friday.