August 3rd, 2009
Big Green Gathering Cancelled
The Big Green Gathering scheduled for 29th July to 2nd August 2009, has been controversially cancelled this year. Mendip Council have come under criticism for not supporting the ethos of the event and being obstructive by threatening the organisers with a High Court Injunction to stop the event going ahead.
The festival was borne out of the Green element at Glastonbury and has been going ahead since 1982; it hosts many sections of the environmental movement and in particular promotes the sustainable lifestyle message. This year had been billed as Britain’s largest and liveliest Green event to date.
Although the event has a reputation for being a, ‘peaceful event with the atmosphere of a village fete,’ its cancellation is due to public safety, crime and disorder issues. Mendip Council stresses that no injunction was made and that the organisers surrendered their application voluntarily.
The event organisers have faced financial difficulties in the past and there is an argument that left unchecked this may have resulted in them not procuring the right level of services and security for the site. If this is indeed the case, surely the council would have done better, to help out and support a peaceful festival promoting important green issues, rather than opposing it and making life difficult….