Fairy festival given safety thumbs-up by council

THE New Forest Fairy Festival has been given a clean bill of health by district councillors who praised the organiser for measures to keep the event safe.

A three-man New Forest District Council licensing sub-committee granted permission for the event at Burley Park, in Burley, to sell alcohol when it takes place between 10am and 6pm on 26th and 27th September.

Chaired by Cllr Steve Clarke, the panel gave the thumbs-up to traffic management plans put together by event organiser Holly Norman and safety measures such as door staff and stewards.

It noted there was a “low level” of alcohol consumption anticipated at the family festival, which had not caused a single complaint since 2014.

Overall the committee “considered that the applicant took their management responsibilities very seriously”.

As reported in the A&T, there had been four objections, including from Cllr Mark Steele, NFDC’s cabinet member for leisure and wellbeing, who was concerned there was a risk of spreading the coronavirus.

The event would have gone ahead regardless of it securing the alcohol licence, however, as representatives from NFDC, the county council and police and fire services previously granted it a Temporary Events Notice.

The folk-themed festival features a “healing garden” and offers non-contact holistic workshops, spiritual talks, fairy yoga and burlesque dance workshops. Originally it was due to take place in August but was cancelled because of the pandemic and rescheduled.

This article was amended on 21st September 2020 to correct the venue.