THE organisers of a controversial music festival, which had planned to be held in Monmouthshire and Herefordshire, have now relocated to Wiltshire.

GemFest, an ‘eclectic range of electronic dance music’, had been promoted as being held over the weekend of June 13 and 16 on farmland at Walterstone in Herefordshire and at Pandy in Monmouthshire, with Herefordshire Council handling all licensing conditions for alcohol sales, late-night food and drink, live and recorded music.

However, the organisers withdrew their licensing application just hours before the Herefordshire Licensing Committee were due to meet and discuss the issue on April 17.

Longtown Group Parish Council had pointed out to the local authority that policing the event would require significant manpower and that access for emergency services both to and within the festival site would be severely restricted.

Other concerns raised suggested that the proposed 600 parking spaces for 5,000 revellers would be totally inadequate and there were no details of the temporary bridges, which would need to be substantial structures for the campers to get to the festival site itself.

The organisers now state that GemFest is now being held over the same weekend in June, but it is now located at the Charlton Park Estate, Malmesbury in Wiltshire.

The GemFest website states that the festival is returning for its third year and that the event will be jam-packed with three days and nights of music and camping.

It states that the site is accessible by Kemble, Chippenham and Swindon train stations and that shuttle buses will run from Chippenham station.

The first two festivals were held in the Howle Hill area, the first being a glorified birthday party. Last year’s event had also been controversial with people in the Howle Hill area right up to the last minute, but it went ahead under the terms of a temporary event licence, limiting attendance to 500 people.