Hop Farm Plans Rejected

The Hop Farm festival, which this year boasted appearances by Neil Young, Primal Scream and Supergrass, has had plans for an expansion rejected by Tonbridge and Malling Borough Council.

The proposed extension to the festival involved the event expanding to three days, introducing camping and increasing the capacity of the event to 53,000. This would represent a massive expansion to the Hop Farm festival, which has not previously had camping facilities.

In spite of the arguments given by the organizers the council rejected the proposal, due in part to objections from residents. In addition to this the council claimed that the organizer's application did not contain enough information.

Chief planner Lindsay Pearson said: "The level of information at submission of the licence is not sufficient for us to be satisfied that as a matter of principle the proposal should go ahead."

Promoter Vince Power replied to this in a statement which read, in part: “This seems to be the normality these days when applying for a licence. We had some complaints from the local village, which seem to be unfounded. I have been organising events and festivals for 25 years, from events at the Mean Fiddler such as The Reading and Leeds Festival to my involvement with Glastonbury and many other events."

"I have a good track record in this sector, as do the team I use. I am confident of obtaining the licence for increased capacity at the appeal in January”