Verdant Reports

… it was called off, three days before is started, under threat of an injunction.

I planned to post about how I am going to be presenting on Green Radio 87.7FM, bringing the whole Big Green Gathering festival to every corner of every tent, and how you can even listen to Green Radio online.

But on Sunday the festival organisers called it off under threat of a High Court injunction by the local authority.

The council cite safety and blame the organisers for failing to hand over signed and sealed assurances for things like security and road closures. The festival organisers claim that everything was being constructively resolved, the threatened injunction came as a surprise, and they believe there was a political decision to shut the festival down. Wags on Twitter point out that the first thing the police did after the Big Green Gathering was cancelled for not being able to close roads … was to close roads to stop more people coming to the site. The occasional online comment and the letter from Mendip Council which threatened an injuction both allude to financial problems at the Big Green which follow on from the loss the festival suffered in 2007.

• BBC:
  Festival cancelled over safety
  Festival cancellation “political”
• Guardian:
  Big Green Gathering festival cancelled after ‘political pressure’
  Nicholas Taylor in “Comment is Free”
  Bibi van der Zee in Environment Blog
• SchNEWS:
  The Hippy, Hippy Shakedown
• Bristol Indymedia:
  Big Green Gathering cancelled due to police & district council pressure
• Official statements:
  Mendip District Council (response to accusations)
  Avon and Somerset Police