Kelvedon Hall has been hosting an annual summer music festival since 2022 and has seen attendance increase year on year.
It had wanted to increase the maximum capacity from 5,000 to 10,000 people ahead of its Appetite On The Farm event on August 23 and 24.
Brentwood Council’s licensing committee has allowed the event to increase the maximum number to 7,500 after hearing that the organisers had made significant changes to the way people leave the site and the steps to avoid people walking back along unlit and unpaved Ongar Road.
Essex Police has said in the past significant number of drunk customers had put their lives at risk after leaving the venue by walking down Ongar Road to reach Brentwood.
The force said that after the event, police officers spent hours acting as a “taxi service” to ferry people off the dark, poorly lit road, which has no pedestrian path.
Essex Police added that increasing the number of attendees to events at the hall would only exacerbate this issue, and could lead to significant road disruption, crime and disorder from antisocial behaviour in the area after the event and, in the worst-case scenario, potentially a death on the road.
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Essex Police licensing officer Simon Barnes said: “The premises is responsible for its customers both onsite and and for the immediate surrounds and at this festival they are drawing people from further afield – we are talking from London and further – and so are required to be able to make the journey back to safety which is Brentwood.
“But unfortunately as we’ve seen they are not willing to wait for coaches and not willing to listen to instruction – and walk out onto Ongar Road which is then led to our policing teams having to pick up these people in the middle of the road and drive them to safety effectively turning Essex Police into a taxi service which is unacceptable both to Essex Police and the greater public.
“They must walk into the live lane if they choose to walk out of the site. We continue to pray that if anyone does walk along Ongar Road there is no fatality.”
Chris Rees-Gay representing the organisers K Hatch Ltd said entry will be explicitly refused and tickets cancelled to anyone trying to walk into the festival.
He said large changes in the car parking which is now free and on site, a dedicated shuttle bus service, extra staffing on egress plus having the main stage further into the premises are expected to make significant improvements.
He said: “Quite simply, we say that won’t be an issue with public safety on egress.”
The committee has agreed to increase the capacity to 7,500 per day for a time limited period expiring after the advertised 2025 event – up to and including August 24.
The committee will expect organisers to provide figures of people leaving and not making use of the transport options on offer for any future application.
