We are calling on the National Trust and Mortehoe Parish Council to re-think plans for an annual festival on the beautiful, secluded and environmentally important Woolacombe Down. The first festival is due to take place over 3 days on the weekend of 27th May 2022 with 3,500 attendees and licences for live music until 0100 on Friday and Saturday and 0000 on Sunday.

We believe this is totally inappropriate for the following reasons:

1) Woolacombe Down is a tranquil, unspoilt area of coastal downland within North Devon's AONB. Even on the busiest of summer days it has a low footfall of visitors and as such is home to a multitude of wild flowers and widlife. Even if the weather is dry, significantly increased presence in this area would be a disaster. It is currently remote and unspoilt and the environmental impact of a festival on this area, particularly from rubbish, waste and the erection of stages, tents, food trucks and loos, would be significant. There is currently very limited access to the area so assembling a festival on this area without the creation of access roads and routes would be incredibly hard. 

2) This date falls during the summer half term when Woolacombe is usually very busy with parking and traffic at high capacity. Woolacombe Down is above/ adjacent to Marine Drive and Challacombe Hill, both already traffic pinchpoints, and any additonal traffic in these areas are likely to cause gridlock and severe inconvenience to both locals and visitors alike.

3) Live music until 0100 will be heard far-and-wide across the local area from such a high position. Ocean Fest at Croyde can be heard from several miles away and Woolacombe Down is several hundred feet higher up. It is not fair on local residents or others who are holidaying in Woolacombe which is a family-friendly resort.