A NEW alcohol and music licence will not mean music festivals starting in Easter Compton, event organisers have pledged.

Washingpool Farm was yesterday granted a premises licence for live and recorded music, and the sale of alcohol.

Members of the South Gloucestershire Council licensing sub-committee agreed the farm could hold 12 events a year where alcohol could be sold, and three of these events could include live or recorded music but the music must stop by 11pm.

Adrian Ashby, events organiser at the farm, was keen to assure the local community the licence was intended to add to existing events rather than create new ones, such as weekend long music festivals like Glastonbury.

He said: "We don’t want to have music events, but have music as part of our events, as background music and as entertainment for our campers."

Washingpool Farm has become a popular location for large events such as VolksFest, weekly car boot sales and the Bristol Steam Rally, and was last year the launch site for the Gordon Bennett Balloon Race. During the week the site is still a working farm with livestock auctions.

Cllr Richard Jones, speaking on behalf of Almondsbury Parish Council, said concerns had been raised locally about the state of the B4055 and whether it could take additional traffic, and the noise levels of live music.

He said: "If we had Status Quo, who are out and out rockers, then I think that probably would be a serious concern to people down there."

Christine Clare, licensing officer, said the suitability of the B4055 was a legitimate concern, but explained the council’s highways department were not consulted under the licensing act.

Objections were also raised by environmental health officers, regarding health and safety and noise levels.

According to officers last year the council received two complaints about noise, one during VolksFest, and the other during the Gordon Bennett Balloon Race when 18 national anthems were played into the early hours of the morning.

However, Washingpool Farm agreed that it would give South Gloucestershire Council six months' notice of any large scale event, of more than 1,999 people, supply an event safety management plan three months in advance and detail how noise levels are to be monitored.

Speaking after the meeting Mr Ashby said: "We are looking forward to running fun, responsible, well organised events."