Public consultation to increase capacity announced

[vintagelaureate]

1 hour ago, Gnomicide said:

There's been no indication that the number of tickets sold increased this year or last. The approval is there but hasn't been used.

In an ideal world, they've held them all back for the resale and that's why the resale dates were annouced with the original sale... I'll take six for my group and myself, and enough to sort out of the good folks of efests please.

[Nobody Interesting]

2 hours ago, Gnomicide said:

There's been no indication that the number of tickets sold increased this year or last. The approval is there but hasn't been used.

I am certain that there were more coach tickets available in October and that is where the 7000 extra were sold. I am sure they upped the allocation to 22,000 from 15,000 but then I am older so the brain is obviously a bit more rubbish.

[gizmoman]

1 hour ago, Nobody Interesting said:

I am certain that there were more coach tickets available in October and that is where the 7000 extra were sold. I am sure they upped the allocation to 22,000 from 15,000 but then I am older so the brain is obviously a bit more rubbish.

Now you mention it I think they did sell 7000 extra coach tickets so that means they reduced the number of GA tickets in the main sale by 7000, no wonder it was so hard to get tickets! They had obviously planned to put in the increase this year and sell the extra in the resale. (depending on what the overall demand was). This is looking good for those like me who failed to get tickets and are relying on the resale.

[incident]

Just now, gizmoman said:

Now you mention it I think they did sell 7000 extra coach tickets

There's no real evidence for that, though. It's just what people were supposing at the time based on the knowledge that the licence allowed a potential increase.

[gizmoman]

5 minutes ago, incident said:

There's no real evidence for that, though. It's just what people were supposing at the time based on the knowledge that the licence allowed a potential increase.

So there was no announcement by the festival at the time? Even so, If they were planning to bring in the increase this year (and they wouldn't have asked for it in the first place if they had no intention of using It) it would make sense to sell the extra coach tickets in the main sale rather than the resale so the knew for sure what number of coaches would be required and in the unlikely event of the coaches not selling out they could still sell them as GA tickets. The fact they have given coach tickets priority for the offsite  camping leaving more onsite capacity suggests to me there will be another 7000 GA available in the resale. (i know it may be wishful thinking on my part).

[incident]

26 minutes ago, gizmoman said:

So there was no announcement by the festival at the time? Even so, If they were planning to bring in the increase this year (and they wouldn't have asked for it in the first place if they had no intention of using It) it would make sense to sell the extra coach tickets in the main sale rather than the resale so the knew for sure what number of coaches would be required and in the unlikely event of the coaches not selling out they could still sell them as GA tickets. The fact they have given coach tickets priority for the offsite  camping leaving more onsite capacity suggests to me there will be another 7000 GA available in the resale. (i know it may be wishful thinking on my part).

Yep, the festival have said nothing on the subject either way. I agree that they'd not apply for it with no intention of using it, but that doesn't mean immediately. The important thing to remember is that 7,000 extra people requires an appropriate amount of extra camping space and the fence line to be moved (hence the consultation), and the extra pitched camping won't be nearly enough to get to 7,000.

One other possibility (likelihood, even) is that the increase is phased in. So with the new pre pitched options they could have sold say 1,000 extra this year. Ultimately though until we hear something solid, it's all speculation.

[Gnomicide]

They may have been waiting to see how the sale of Sticklinch went before committing. If the demand wasn't there, they may have struggled to fit an extra 7k campers in. Now they know how many will be off site, they can properly calculate the space needed.

[brettredmayne]

Any way we can find out if this is extra tickets, give us resale lot some hope

[Crazyfool01]

14 minutes ago, brettredmayne said:

Any way we can find out if this is extra tickets, give us resale lot some hope

I did ask emily to clarify in the glastothingy tweet .... but she hasn't replied .... terrible  

[strummer77]

On 1/4/2020 at 1:02 AM, marathonsteve said:

So What it benefits the local community no end

You still should/have to do a consultation for it though. For due process and to maintain good relationships with the community. It would be unnecessarily provocative not to.  

[strummer77]

19 hours ago, incident said:

There's no real evidence for that, though. It's just what people were supposing at the time based on the knowledge that the licence allowed a potential increase.

Yeah the extra coach ticket stuff was just (reasonable) speculation based on the fact the expanded capacity had been approved and that the extra tickets were based around public transport. 

Now we know from that article that it hasn’t been implemented, so the numbers in the main sales were probably similar to normal. The locals had a bit more as the festival stated that. 

Speculation again but does seem like there’s 7,000 ‘new’ tickets possibly up for grabs. 

[Lycra]

58 minutes ago, strummer77 said:

Yeah the extra coach ticket stuff was just (reasonable) speculation based on the fact the expanded capacity had been approved and that the extra tickets were based around public transport. 

Now we know from that article that it hasn’t been implemented, so the numbers in the main sales were probably similar to normal. The locals had a bit more as the festival stated that. 

Speculation again but does seem like there’s 7,000 ‘new’ tickets possibly up for grabs. 

The trouble is that it's all speculation and reading between the lines, especially so for those hoping to bag tickets in any further sales. I cannot ever recall any official announcement concerning the actual number of tickets sold and their type, they are masked by licensing limits and  each year GF can choose how much of the capacity limit it takes up.

The Somerset live article is helpful but the timing of a consultation of locals seems strange if it is linked to increasing capacity for 2020.

The article states "Options are being explored to amend camping options both on and off site, and a public consultation is set begin in the coming months"

With the resale in April, ticket despatch in late May and fest in June, the timeline seems extremely tight for reporting and enacting the results of a consultation "set begin in the coming months" 

[marathonsteve]

1 hour ago, strummer77 said:

You still should/have to do a consultation for it though. For due process and to maintain good relationships with the community. It would be unnecessarily provocative not to.  

Yes I more than agree with that

[strummer77]

34 minutes ago, Lycra said:

The article states "Options are being explored to amend camping options both on and off site, and a public consultation is set begin in the coming months"

With the resale in April, ticket despatch in late May and fest in June, the timeline seems extremely tight for reporting and enacting the results of a consultation "set begin in the coming months" 

I don’t think the timeline is particularly tight (if they wish to do so). The plans to fit the extra 7,000 would likely be drawn up by the time consultation begins, with some contingency plans to enact in case there’s something from the consultation arising. Unless there’s a real showstopper arising from feedback the festival would probably be prepared to enact as soon as they have the go ahead.

Once it’s completed and approved they then only have to put the extra tickets on sale which is a job that could be sorted in minutes. Also worth pointing out that coach tickets aren’t dispatched - they’re emailed out in June  

It might not be the aim for this year, but I don’t think the timeframe would be an issue if they were really keen to do so. But it might not be a priority right now. 

Edited January 5, 2020 by strummer77

[Crazyfool01]

2 minutes ago, strummer77 said:

t might not be the aim for this year, but I don’t think the timeframe would be an issue if they were really keen to do so. But it might not be a priority right now. 

I think they would be trying to get the numbers for this year whilst the demand is definitely there ... its a massive amount of extra revenue for starters .... and although its very successful at the moment all it takes is one year of horrendous weather and it may take a dip and those extra 7000 may go unsold ... 

[Gnomicide]

I wonder if they've already planned out the logistics of getting another 7k people on site via public transport? 

I guess it will all be coach, at approx. 60 people per coach, that's another 116 coaches to get in and out. 

Having said that, a quick bit of maths shows if they were split into arriving between 8am and midnight on both Wednesday and Thursday it's only another 3.6 coaches an hour. Ish.

[Lycra]

11 minutes ago, strummer77 said:

I don’t think the timeline is particularly tight (if they wish to do so). The plans to fit the extra 7,000 would likely be drawn up by the time consultation begins, with some contingency plans to enact in case there’s something from the consultation arising. Unless there’s a real showstopper arising from feedback.

Depends who's running the process. In my experience local councils are normally slow and bureaucratic. If it is a genuine consultation/feedback/revise plans process then it could be slow. On the other it could just be information sharing, i.e. we are doing this.

Edited January 5, 2020 by Lycra

[Crazyfool01]

5 minutes ago, Gnomicide said:

I wonder if they've already planned out the logistics of getting another 7k people on site via public transport? 

I guess it will all be coach, at approx. 60 people per coach, that's another 116 coaches to get in and out. 

Having said that, a quick bit of maths shows if they were split into arriving between 8am and midnight on both Wednesday and Thursday it's only another 3.6 coaches an hour. Ish.

its the gate queues that would be an issue for those arriving and going in through gate A  .... maybe they could put in a gate for bus only people ... they do prioritise the busses I know ... but might extend the wait from the carparks on that side of the site 

[strummer77]

23 minutes ago, Lycra said:

Depends who's running the process. In my experience local councils are normally slow and bureaucratic. If it is a genuine consultation/feedback/revise plans process then it could be slow. On the other it could just be information sharing, i.e. we are doing this.

I imagine Glastonbury will try and have it pretty much as ‘this is the plan - any objections?’. They will know from experience the type of residents and type of objections that could arise so will probably be prepared for most issues. 

But regardless, it’s not necessarily a long process at all -  example Anfield had a licence application for summer concerts rejected in August 2018, it was tweaked and passed in September 2018.

As far as councils go, Mendip seem pretty sensible and efficient. Much better than neighbouring B&NES anyway!
 

  

[Gnomicide]

6 minutes ago, crazyfool1 said:

its the gate queues that would be an issue for those arriving and going in through gate A  .... maybe they could put in a gate for bus only people ... they do prioritise the busses I know ... but might extend the wait from the carparks on that side of the site 

But if lots of them are staying in WV and Sticklinch, they'll be guided away to shuttle busses. The plan is starting to make sense now.

[Crazyfool01]

Just now, Gnomicide said:

But if lots of them are staying in WV and Sticklinch, they'll be guided away to shuttle busses. The plan is starting to make sense now.

Ah yes ... of course  

[BluePaul]

The article might be bang up to date but my, they've dug out some pretty old pictures of the site to illustrate it...

Any guesses as to which year those pictures were taken?  The Park is there so it's 2007 or later - but not much later...