This Is Guernsey

By Natalie Harrison

CULTURE AND LEISURE has backed down under pressure, allowing Guernsey Live to go ahead. The two-day May music festival was in jeopardy following the department’s refusal to allow it to be staged at Victoria Avenue playing field to safeguard the pitch for cricket.

But event organisers insisted that the site was their only viable option and cricket chiefs denied they were properly consulted, saying they would be happy to find a solution for ‘multi-use’ of the site.

As pressure to save the event mounted, a Facebook site entitled ‘Save Guernsey Live’ attracted well over a thousand names.

Culture and Leisure chief officer Dave Chilton confirmed that the department had this week gone through all the available sites again with the event organisers.

Subject to gaining the necessary permissions, he said, the event could now take place at Victoria Avenue.

‘It is quite clear that for their needs, the Victoria Avenue site is the right one,’ he said.

But while he said that the move was ‘good news,’ department minister Peter Sirett remained hesitant.

‘There’s still a lot of work to be done and permissions to be granted,’ he said.

Deputy Sirett said it was unlikely that he would attend the event.

‘I am not into live music,’ he said.

‘If you are into good recordings, it is never quite the same thing.’ When asked if the department’s move might be seen as a climbdown, Deputy Sirett said that the organisers had been granted permission to use part of the field as an overflow if the Track had hosted the festival instead.

Organisers said earlier that they had sought approval to use the site and had been asked for a deposit against damage to the land.

‘It is not humiliation at all,’ said Deputy Sirett. ‘We maintain the States land and we have a mandate to look after it in the interests of the users of the site.’

Deputy Sirett added that he hoped the recently-appointed Arts Commission would now take things forward - including the promotion of live music.

Organiser Warren Holt said he had been busy with the department this week and was ecstatic.

‘It’s been such hard work - we’ve wanted to do it for two years now,’ he said.

‘It’s a fantastic result - we’re so pleased with it. We’ll be putting even more effort into it now to make it extra special.’

Mr Holt said that planning for the event would start in earnest next week and he was already impressed with the dealings he had had with the police.

Along with headline acts ‘as big, if not bigger than those that have been seen at Jersey Live’, Mr Holt confirmed that plans were under way to bring a film tent as well as a skatepark to the event.