Organisers of the National Eisteddfod in Abergavenny have won their case for late night licensing on the fringe music festival site - Maes B – at Racecourse Farm.

Meeting at County Hall on Tuesday, MCC’s licensing and regulatory sub-committee granted a temporary alcohol licence from 11am to 1.30am, with live music until 2am for the four days from Wednesday August 3 to Saturday August 6.

Llanfoist resident Mr Rod Jones, a retired surgeon, had earlier addressed the meeting about his concerns for the safety of festival goers making their way to and from the site on the opposite side of the river from Castle Meadows.

He said afterwards that he didn’t plan to appeal against the decision and only hoped his fears were proved wrong.

The Eisteddfod organisers’ solicitor, said they were experts in staging such events and had never had a licensing application refused. The National Eisteddfod had been licensed throughout Wales in the past without any issues

He urged the sub committee to have faith in the views of the council’s own officers that the event would be safe and noise would be kept to an acceptable level.

A free shuttle bus service to and from Maes B would ensure people wouldn’t attempt to walk along the river path. The availability of the service would be reinforced by notices and the bus stops would be attended by stewards and fully lit late at night.

“Human nature is that if you have the offer of a free bus for a journey of two to three miles you will hop on it rather than choose to walk along a hazardous riverbank,” he said.

Tickets were required for entry to Maes B and visitors were not permitted to take alcohol on site with them, he said.

An MCC officer would be checking the sound levels at Maes B on the first night. Music should not be audible inside people’s homes and every effort would be made to ensure levels were ‘reasonable and proportionate’.

Rod Jones said he thought local residents would probably tolerate four nights’ lack of sleep. His main concern was safety.

Given Maes B’s proximity to overhead power lines he was concerned that the organisers had not contacted the National Grid.

The applicant’s solicitor pointed out that this was not a legal requirement.

Mr Jones added, “I am Welsh, born in Aberystwyth and appreciate the Eisteddfod is an important national event. But Maes B is a recent addition and has a reputation for young people attending the concerts getting very drunk.

“I think the lack of pedestrian access to the site is wrong. Campers will stay there but it will also involve many people walking from Abergavenny, attracted by the concerts or late drinking.

“When the Eisteddfod organisers were initially seeking planning permission a transport assessment was undertaken and identified that Llanfoist Bridge was very dangerous.

“I don’t see inebriated young people using shuttle buses – they’ll be walking in large numbers, particularly if the weather’s good.

“The thought of thousands of pedestrians crossing the bridge late at night is quite alarming.”

He said he was also extremely concerned about the risk to festival goers crossing the slip road of the Heads of the Valleys road.

In the week’s before the licensing committee meeting Mr Jones had discussed his concerns with MCC’s Eisteddfod officer Huw Aled Jones and had offered to withdraw his objections if the council agreed to provide a temporary footbridge across the river.

“If there was safe access without crossing Llanfoist Bridge the risk would be acceptable,” he said.

But he was told a Bailey Bridge would cost £150,000 and was not an option.

Mr Jones argued there were companies that specialised in providing temporary bridges on festival sites for far less money.

• Maes B is held on the main Maes at Castle Meadows for the first half of Eisteddfod week before moving to Racecourse Farm.

Racecourse Farm was not the first location suggested by the council. Land close to the water treatment plant was initially proposed but the organisers felt that this was too close to residential properties.

Mr Jones has argued that late night music at the Racecourse Farm site will also affect several hundred homes but that those residents have, until recently, been unaware of the choice of location.