New three-day Derbyshire music festival gets the green light

A Derbyshire Dales District Council licensing hearing approved the application for the planned three-day Fox Festival, to be held at Kenslow Farm, near Middleton-by-Youlgrave, each July.

The application, submitted by Fox Trading and Events Ltd, registered in Derby, would see Roxy Webster and her team host their first festival, hosting up to 4,999 people – with a focus on all things sustainable.

Ms Webster said the first year of the event would likely be in and around 1,000 people at most but would look to grow and aims to have a net-zero carbon footprint in due course.

This would be aided by wooden portaloos and a bike-powered stage, with the help and advice of her mother who is a member of the Extinction Rebellion environmentalist group.

However, environmental health and public health officials at the district council formally objected to the application due to the addition of a further festival on a site which already hosts two other festivals each summer.

Their concern was one of cumulative impact and a rising intensity of potential disruption on site and on the surrounding area – running through from mid-June to mid-August each year.

As a result, they asked the licensing hearing to impose a 48-day/six-week gap between the planned Fox festival and any other events on the site. Ms Webster judged this to be “unfair” and “drastic” which would “ruin it for many festivals”.

Eileen Tierney, licensing manager at the district council, said police and Derbyshire County Council officials had agreed on safety and management policies which would enable the festival to go ahead.

Amanda Goodwill, the district council’s environmental health manager, told the hearing that while the event would be three days, it would require a week beforehand to build and prepare for the festival, followed by a week to “break” it all down afterwards.

This, combined with other festivals already running each summer, CEX and Rosa, would lead to five or more weeks worth of disruption back to back, every year, which would “affect people greatly”.

Ms Goodwill said: “We need to consider if various numbers of events will be detrimental to residents. The disturbance for this event and others could lead to a cumulative noise nuisance and an extra burden on neighbouring properties.”

She also said the impact on the very substance of the site could be significantly impacted with three festivals after each other every summer, particularly if bad weather hits and hinders the track leading onto and off the farm plot.

Ms Goodwill said the “intensity” of the site’s use could “compromise safety and cause a noise nuisance”.

She said: “A third event in this location is not appropriate. Holding this two weeks after Rosa is of significant concern. A minimum of six weeks is needed between events. This is wholly inappropriate. The frequency and duration of events needs to be considered.”

She said there were three complaints related to the last Rosa festival, which hosted 800 people, with those concerns relating to noise and parking.

Ms Goodwill said the character of the area would be dominated by festivals each summer and that this could impact on holiday lets and other businesses.

Cllr Steve Wain, chairing the meeting, said sound was known to travel far from festivals in the Dales countryside, with other events often heard in Matlock from miles away.

Ms Webster, who has seven years of experience helping to organise events, including the popular Bustler street-food festivals, said a requirement for 48 days between events was “ridiculous”.

She said having the events held back-to-back would aid sustainability rather than hinder it, with the site given more time to recover between seasons, instead of spreading on and off recovery throughout the year.

Ms Webster said the restriction on time between festivals would lead to one festival getting the main chunk of summer and others being more likely to be hit by inclement weather.

She said she did not expect to get any complaints from their family-friendly festival.

Steve Hawkins, the site owner, said straw bales had been stacked behind the speakers at the most recent Rosa festival, which he said did prove effective in suppressing noise.

Mr Hawkins when asked about the cumulative impact of festivals on his land, said: “If farming was fantastic then I wouldn’t need to host festivals, but I need to put food on the table for my family.”Cllr Wain said: “It is important that you diversify, but it can have an impact elsewhere.”

Ms Tierney said she would expect applicants of a festival the size of Fox – 4,999 attendees – to have contacted the council and other relevant organisations, such as the police, before submitting an application – instead of hearing about it when the forms land on their desks.

Ms Webster concluded: “Overall it seems like it is boiling down to complaints about other festivals and the cumulative impact of them, not our festival.

“It is a business for us and we want it to be sustainable. What started as a vintage clothing and music festival has become a lot more.

“It would be a really great thing to bring to the area and it would be really, really heat-breaking [if it cannot go ahead].”

Cllr Wain, announcing the hearing’s decision, said that after “quite a serious consideration and deliberation” the annual event would be allowed but with a mandatory gap of 28 days – reduced from 48 days – between other festivals on the site.

Cllr Wain said: “We consider that it is really important that these events are approved but we take into account the community impact and cumulative impact and the need for the farmer to diversify.”