The organisers of a dance music festival held in an east Reading park can double its capacity.
Curate Group has been running the student-focused Stories in the Park event at Palmer Park since 2019.
This year, 9,999 people can attend – up from 4,999, after approval was granted by Reading Borough Council, despite concerns from neighbours.
They told the council’s licensing committee they felt previous events had included drinking, drug taking and urination, with smashed glass left around, and noises coming from the event.
Toby Mullins, the CEO of Curate Group, and his licensing representative, Luke Elford, said the event would be handled professionally, and the increased capacity would allow the event to grow in prominence.
Mr Elford said: “No licensed event starts at its desired capacity. We start with a smaller event to show that we can do things properly. The applicant has earned his stripes.”
A neighbour also claimed that tickets are already being sold advertising an enlarged capacity and a VIP area on its Instagram, which they called “presumptive at best”.
Mr Elford said that Stories in the Park, which features drum and bass music, already has a licence for 4,999 festival-goers and tickets are being sold on that basis.
Mr Elford added: “We don’t think we’ll hit 9,999 this year, but that’s what we’re working towards.”
And he said they would not be asking for greater capacity down the line.
One concern was how attendees left the festival, with Cllr Glenn Dennis (Labour, Kentwood) asking how stewarding staff will limit disturbance from the festival.
Mr Mullins replied: “We manage the egress exceptionally well. We do everything in our best power to ensure good behaviour in and around the park. The perimeter is an area we manage closely.”
He added that the event is glass free and hired cleaning teams sweep the site and surrounding areas in the evening and morning after the event.
Cllr Debs Edwards (Labour, Southcote) asked how sound would be managed.
Mr Elford replied that specialists will monitor noise levels on and off site to ensure it is kept within agreed decibel limits.
Mr Elford conceded that Stories in the Park would not be disturbance free, but argued on balance that Curate Group follows the council’s licensing objectives.
The licence to increase the capacity of the festival to 9,999 was granted by the licensing applications sub-committee held on Thursday, February 1.
After the meeting, Mr Mullins said: “I’m delighted with the result, and obviously we can up all the levels of the show, the production, the line-up, the number of stages, everything now grows and it’s a real success story.
“I’m really pleased the council has had no objections whatsoever, so great news.”
Acts already announced include Hedex, Sub Focus and Dimension.
Mr Mullins said: “The first stage is drum and bass, and the second stage is house, garage and techno style music.
“We’ve got a very special guest on the first stage this year, on the second stage, which is much bigger this year, we’ve got some very well-known world class DJs.”
Stories in the Park will be held on Saturday, June 15.
Curate Group will hold a number of events in Palmer Park that weekend, starting with a student boxing event on Thursday, June 13, an Ibiza Summertime Live Orchestra on Friday, June 14, and, on Sunday, June 16, a music concert featuring Blue, Scouting for Girls, and Boyzlife.
