Further to Minute 21 of the meeting held on 11 March
2020, James Crosbie, Assistant Director of Planning, Transport and
Regulatory Services, introduced Noel Painting and Victoria Chapman
of Festival Republic who gave a presentation on the 2021 Reading
Festival.
The presentation particularly focused on the issues
of safeguarding, welfare and sustainability:
·
Festival Republic had concentrated on providing a
safe and secure festival and had introduced robust Covid-19
policies;
- Pre-event
communications had included low carbon travel, a tent-buying guide
and other sustainability measures that could be taken by
festival-goers, all of which had been underpinned by the Take It
Home message;
- Carbon
emissions had levelled over recent festivals, although in part this
could be attributed to the significant increase in
capacity;
- The
communications had made it clear that only tents which had been
packed away and handed in could be re-used by
charities;
- Food and
beverage vendors had used only recyclable items included food
packaging and cutlery. There had been a
deposit on drinks cups, which led to six tonnes of cups being
collected for reuse or recycling;
- Artists had
supported and promoted sustainability during their
sets;
- Peer to peer
engagement had worked well to normalise sustainability among
festival-goers;
- Safeguarding
partner agencies had worked well together to provide a safe
environment for festival-goers. There
had been plenty of signage to the right areas and agencies to help
attendees find the support they needed easily and
quickly;
- The
relatively short lead-in time before the festival had led to some
issues with lack of appropriately trained staff;
- The
intention was to build on the successes of the 2019 and 2021
festivals to deliver further sustainability measures and ensure the
safety and well-being of all attendees.
The Committee discussed the presentation and took
the opportunity to ask further questions of Festival Republic which
covered the following areas:
·
Front of House drug-testing could be
introduced. There was a risk that it
could lead individuals to have a false sense of security especially
as most recent drug-related deaths at various festivals had been
due to mixing drugs or mixing drugs and alcohol, although this
could be covered by providing clear information and advice at the
testing point;
- Festival
Republic had set up a working group with the appropriate partner
agencies to deal with the unlicensed and unregulated water taxis
operating during the Festival, to further protect attendees as they
travelled between sites;
- Festival
Republic were continuing to investigate measures to encourage
people not to abandon tents and other camping equipment when they
left the site. As well as the Take Your
Tent Home message they had been considering having initiatives such
as people on the camp-sites helping to take tents down,
competitions to pack away pop up tents in the fastest time and
increased tent rental offers;
- Further
measures aimed at reducing carbon emissions included a move to use
more power from the grid to reduce reliance on generators,
continuing to promote green travel as Reading had such good
transport links, reducing the carbon footprint of the food served
by vendors, use of accredited suppliers and targeted communications
to festival-goers.
Resolved -
That
Noel Painting and Victoria Chapman be thanked for an interesting
and informative presentation.