HELP WITH FESTIVAL APPEAL

[indiacelyn]

Hi guys, i really need help with another appeal to re-run an old festival. it was shut down by the council due to 'health & safety issues caused by a lack of organisation' (which was untrue). anyway it is 8 years on since our last appeal, and recently there has been much discussion about appealing again. we need to be able to present a strong case as to why the festival should be allowed to run next year, but also to demonstrate how all organisation has been greatly improved. 

If anyone has any advice on how to get around the council and how to help with our appeal and licensing it will be greatly appreciated! also if anyone has any reasons in support of our proposition, please don't hesitate to give them!

[grumpyhack]

Start by treating the council as an organisation that can help not an organisation to 'get around'.  Approach the council. who've probably got an events or publicity department, and ask what needs to be done and what they can help with.  If the festival can help boost the local economy by bringing trade or positive publicity to the area you may get support.  If it's likely to bring what the council might see as problems, like traffic chaos or a flood of 'undesirables', you will have to do some thinking.  Given that the final say so will rest with the council you need to make friends.  Start sounding out any local councillors and get them on side.

[indiacelyn]

2 hours ago, grumpyhack said:

Start by treating the council as an organisation that can help not an organisation to 'get around'.  Approach the council. who've probably got an events or publicity department, and ask what needs to be done and what they can help with.  If the festival can help boost the local economy by bringing trade or positive publicity to the area you may get support.  If it's likely to bring what the council might see as problems, like traffic chaos or a flood of 'undesirables', you will have to do some thinking.  Given that the final say so will rest with the council you need to make friends.  Start sounding out any local councillors and get them on side.

in the last appeal, the council were of no help and failed to allow us another opportunity to make improvements.  we know what needs to be done, but providing a convincing case that appeals to them will be difficult. the festival can very much boost the local economy, and they are aware of this. but as it once attracted 10,000 to a rural area, but this is the reason the council came to the decision to revoke the license. we have begun compiling how we will deal with the 'undesirables' but in our case, the council is difficult so our appeal would have to be 100% fool-proof. thanks for your input. 

[Yoghurt on a Stick]

The council will have Policies & Procedures documents which govern what they do. I would be inclined to either look at these documents on line, or request the relevant documents from the council. At this embryonic stage it might be wiser to look on line, than the later approach, as you'll be putting your head over the parapet by doing this - although you could get around this by using a false name etc.

Once you have access to the Policies & Procedures you should scrutinize them heavily. Then, when finally presenting the council with a festival application, you should quote the relevant Policies & Procedures to them. This will,hopefully, have a duel effect. The first is that it will steer the council in the direction that you want it to go down. The second is that the council will be made aware that they have to adhere to their own Policies & Procedures.

The above said, it would be far wiser, in my opinion, to develop a working process with the council, rather than develop a combative approach - if the council want to kill you with red tape they probably can do. 

I believe that there are on line portals which detail the areas that you will need to cover eg security, licensing, emergency service access etc etc. In fact, here's one that you could use as a template;

https://www.artsderbyshire.org.uk/images/festival-and-event-planning-tool-kit_tcm40-223120.pdf

 

[grumpyhack]

Yog's link is really helpful.  I used to be one of the management team of a festival that had a daily attendance of about 20,000.  The festival site straddled two local authorities so we had to get the go ahead from both and they almost competed to see who could be the most finnicky.  So our own Policies and Procedures document was about 90 pages long - but so it should be.  If you are running a festival you have a duty of care to those attending which quite rightly has to cover their health, safety and general well-being. You have to address all the "What would happen if....?" questions which can range from lost (or even abducted) children to a breakout of fire in the camping area amongst rammed together tents. All of your stewards need to be properly trained and you may also need to work with an approved security firm and medical staff.  That might seem to be a pain and or cost but a well-run festival should be like a swan - it might appear calm and serene on the surface but to make that happen beneath the water at times you'll need to be paddling like mad.  The better you have prepared the less panicky paddling you'll have to do.  A simple example might be the question "What happens if it rains?"  Things like decking or tracking or woodchipping can't just be whistled up but have to be planned

Edited January 9, 2018 by grumpyhack

[russycarps]

what was the festival?