Objections to the late-night licensing application for the Eisteddfod’s Maes B, the fringe music festival venue, will be considered on Tuesday by the council’s Licensing and Regulatory Sub-committee.

Llanfoist resident Mr Rod Jones (pictured), retired surgeon and former chief of staff of surgery for Aneurin Bevan Health Board, is particularly concerned for the safety of inebriated young festival goers walking along the riverbank in the early hours and also the noise disturbance for local people.

Following discussions with Monmouthshire County Council’s officer for the Eisteddfod Huw Aled Jones a compromise was suggested - for the live music to finish at 1am, half an hour earlier than proposed, with pre-recorded music at a lower level until 1.30am and licensing until 1.30am rather than 2am - but Mr Jones is still pressing for his other concerns to be addressed.

He sees serious dangers in siting the Maes and Maes B on opposite sides of the river and has called for the Eisteddfod organisers to provide a temporary bridge, but this has been rejected on financial grounds.

With power lines running over Maes B, he also feels there could be safety issues related to the use of electrical equipment on the site.

He thinks many local residents are not even aware of the proposed location of Maes B yet he reckons that loud music playing until the early hours will affect hundreds of households in Ysbytty Fields, Llanfoist and Monmouth Road.

“We all received Eisteddfod leaflets in the post but Maes B wasn’t marked on the map,” he said.

He is also dissatisfied with the way the legally-required notices relating to the application were displayed alongside a road without public access, and he disputes the anticipated attendance figures entered on the application itself.

If 5,000 or more people are expected to attend at any one time, the applicant has to state the expected number. The Eisteddfod organisers have estimated the figure at 14,999.

Mr Jones argues that 26,000 people visited the Eisteddfod on one day at Llandow - ‘a remote airfield in the Vale of Glamorgan’ - and if the weather is good he would expect the numbers in Abergavenny to be much higher.

“The relevance is the fee paid,” he said. “For 14,999 the ‘additional fee’ is £2,000 - for 30,000 it is £16,000. Monmouthshire could be saving money here.”

Mr Jones says the first time he became aware of the Eisteddfod licensing application was when he and his wife were walking through Castle Meadows and noticed a blue sign, ‘very low down and difficult to read’.

“We were horrified to discover there would be a pop concert for young people and children on Maes B until 2am with an alcohol licence until 2am.

“Maes B is next to the tip (transfer station) and there are serious dangers having the Maes and Maes B on different sides of the river.

“When we went to the one-stop-shop we were told we were the first people who had enquired about the notices. In fact no-one I met was aware of the choice of location for Maes B at the time the notices were posted on April 18.

“I wrote to the council pointing out my objections and met with Huw Aled Jones to discuss them - but we can’t agree a way forward.”

Mr Jones said he would have been happy to withdraw his objections if a temporary bridge was provided over the river and the alcohol licence finished at midnight and the music at 12.30am.

But he was told the Eisteddfod organisers did not wish to go further than ending the evening concerts and the licensing half an hour earlier than originally proposed.

“I was told they had looked into the possibility of providing a Bailey Bridge but that it would cost £150,000. I know there are firms specialising in temporary bridges for festivals for far less than that - but in any case £150,000 does not seem a lot of money to me to prevent a tragedy.”

He has subsequently suggested swapping the location of the caravan site and Maes B site, which he argued would be much safer, reduce public disruption and cost no more money.

“The Llanover caravan site has four or five houses within half a mile whereas the Maes B site has 3,000-4,000 houses within half a mile,” he said.

But he was told that switching the sites was ‘totally impractical’.

Tuesday’s meeting will consider a temporary premises licence for the Eisteddfod Maes at Castle Meadows, Maes B at Racecourse Farm and the caravan site at Llanover.

The applications are for licensing from 11am until midnight on the Maes, 11am to 1.30am on Maes B and 11am to 11pm at the caravan park.

A report to the committee says that, in anticipation of noise issues, a noise management plan has been drawn up and includes background noise tests as well as live monitoring on the first night in order to set levels.

Careful selection of the sound system to be used and of the engineers in charge will further add to the control measures.

Officers say the marquee contractor has been informed of the proximity of the power line and that ‘the current version of Maes B will have the site moved further away again’.

The committee will also be told that visitors will be strongly advised to use the shuttle bus, which will run from early morning through to 3am for the Maes B attendees who are staying at the caravan site.

And the council says notices about the licensing application were properly advertised in the local press and displayed prominently on the relevant sites.