This was the first time I've sat thru a licence hearing under the new licencing act, but the procedure was much the same as under the old one. The only noticeable difference is that "interested parties" who are members of the licencing board are no longer allowed to be involved with making the decision.

This meant that a certain Pilton councillor (I won't name him, this isn't meant to be personal) who has been a member of the board in the past was excluded this time around, tho he was still free representations within the legal remit of the licencing act. And as ever, he moaned and moaned on anything he could, and it's obvious that he'd stop the festival tomorrow if he could, on the basis that he just doesn't like it.

It was good to see that this year there were no outright objections to the festival going ahead - this is a first. I do presume, however, that this new attitude from the objectors isn't because they're happy with the festival, but just because they've recognised the reality that they won't be able to stop it. Instead, this time around, the objections were attempting to stop the increase in size, and the granting of a four year licence. With the festival so much better run nowadays - and with Michael taken out of the process with Melvin Benn as licencee (there's many that simply hate anything to do with Michael) - it's good it got the licence it wanted.

At the end of the hearing, I had Chris Malcolmson (who is the council officer [not a councillor] responsible for health & safety [i think]) come up and ask me if I'd be doing the online commentary that I've done in previous years. He said he'd very much enjoyed reading them in the past, which was good to hear - I'm always concerned that along the way somewhere I might accidentally misrepresent what someone has said. Although I've had positive feedback on what i've written in previous years from GF staff and supporters, as I'm of course on their side I'd sort-of expect that; Chris' comments gave my confidence in my writing a nice boost!