Vs Fly Under The Radar

Worthing Borough Council has apparently fulfilled its obligations to display the premises licence application submitted by Manchester-based SJM Concerts, which runs the V Festival that takes place every August near Stafford, but it seems that nobody living in the neighbourhood has noticed it.

SJM want permission to run events on the airfield from midday to as late as 3 a.m., with alcohol served until 2 am on Friday and Saturday nights. The site capacity is expected to be around 70,000.

Local councilor Liz Haywood told regional paper The Argus that she feels the application had “very much gone under the radar.”

“I’ve not heard a thing about it but I will consult with other councillors,” she said

Gerard Rosenberg, of the Shoreham Society, told the paper he’s “extremely unhappy” as he feels residents had not yet been consulted over the plan or alerted to its existence.

“It’s not good enough. I haven’t got an opinion on the event itself yet, but my first thoughts are that I support cultural events at the airport but I would be concerned about traffic and infrastructure.

“But it’s not good enough that literally nobody knows about it apart from the promoters and the airport management. I will be calling on the council to extend the deadline for public representation,” he added.

Irish promoter Denis Desmond, who owns the lion’s share of the twinned V Festivals currently running in Stafford and Chelmsford, wasn’t available for comment at press time.

Shoreham Airport managing director Jonathan Candelon is in favour of the plan, which, according to the Worthing Herald, could see the first fest happen on his site in 2015.

“I think it really would be great for this area,” he said. “A few months ago, a big film production came to the airport and we want to encourage all these activities.”

Other regional papers are saying the festival would likely happen in June, suggesting there’s no plan to link it in with the two existing V fests. The airport no longer runs scheduled passenger flights, being mainly used for sightseeing tours, charter flights and flying schools.