A HEARING to decide whether a drum and bass music festival can go ahead in the Monmouthshire countryside will have to be rearranged after closing in under 10 minutes.

Two police officers and a barrister representing Gwent Police attended the hearing at Monmouthshire County Hall in Usk, which closed just minutes after opening when the applicant asked to resubmit their plans.

They had applied for an event notice to stage a music festival, expected to draw some 200 to 300 people, to Old Castle Court Farm at Crucorney near Pandy north of Abergavenny, where there would also be camping.

Gem Fest was staged last year at a farm in Howle Hill south of Ross-on-Wye, and despite opposition from local residents, no issues were raised by the local police or council for the event, which in contrast was granted a temporary event notice and a premises licence by Herefordshire Council.

Sam Southan, one of four organisers, applied to stage the festival from Friday, June 13 to Sunday, June 15 this year with live music and alcohol and sales until 4am on the Saturday and Sunday mornings, though all activities would have finished at 12am on the Sunday, with no licensable activities past midnight.

Monmouthshire County Council’s environmental health department objected as it said no site plan had been provided and it was concerned about potential noise with houses within 500 metres of the field.

Environmental health officer Huw Owen also said no information on noise levels, mitigations or the “intended music type” had been provided.

His objection said there is “clearly the potential for disturbance from music during late night hours and a breach of licensing objective the ‘prevention of public nuisance’.”

Gwent Police said no plans or risk assessments it would expect for an event over multiple days had been provided and also objected.

When council licensing officer Linda O’Gorman asked Mr Southan, who attended the meeting remotely with fellow organiser Sam Morgan, if he was happy to go ahead without legal representation he asked for the chance to resubmit the application.

Mr Southan said: “Previously in Herefordshire they’ve always been more casual meetings. I think we’ve misunderstood how formal this would be.”

He apologised for the confusion and asked if he could resubmit the application to avoid “wasting anyone’s time”, which was accepted.

Ms O’Gorman said it would have been “helpful” had the applicants stated that before the hearing, which also involved a panel of three county counillors, two licensing officers, the environmental heath officer and the council solicitor had been arranged.

She said the notice sent to applicants stated it was a “hearing” and there is a right to legal representation.

Last year’s event near Ross was given the go ahead by Herefordshire Council after organisers amended their finishing times to midnight, although several residents and councillors raised concerns beforehand.

Unlike Gwent Police and Monmouthshire Council, West Mercia Police and Herefordshire Council made no objections to the event, which was slated to host up to 800 revellers.