Whilst we do work with the Festival organisers, discuss all the issues and make recommendations, this aspect is primarily dealt with by the local police. There is always an official debrief where all organisations involved with the event meet and discuss what has gone on. The organisers also have meetings with festival goers and get feedback from a variety of sources. At the end of the day all of this information is fed into the next event so that there are year on year improvements.

The answer to this question is no not at present but if one of the Statutory Authorities called for a review, who knows what the outcome will be.

We do meet with the organisers of Reading Festival on a regular basis. However, once a licence has been granted we are not in a position to change it unless the licence is reviewed or the organisers apply for a variation of that licence. If neither of these happen then all we can do is ask the organisers to comply. If they do they do but if they don't it is not legally binding unless it is approved by the licensing committee. Any new conditions have to be agreed by the organisers and have to comply with the 4 licensing objectives set down by the Government.

Being a licensing officer working in the licensing section we have to remain neutral. It is therefore, the Environmental Health section of Consumer Services who make such a decision and it is they who would submit their representations to be complied with. Regrettably I cannot answer this question further.

The current space available to the Reading Festival operators is vast. In theory if they wish to increase the capacity, they could apply to do so. In practice, the more people who attend, the more issues that arise and there is an increased likelihood of objections or representations being received form Statutory Authorities and residents.

There is currently no detailed analysis available of the value of Reading Festival to the local economy but a conservative estimate of the value in terms of direct contribution to local businesses would be in the region of £6 million.

Rejecting and revoking, are two entirely different mechanisms so I will deal with them separately.

A(i)) Rejecting is something the Licensing Authority can do in the first instance. When an application is received, it is checked. If parts of the form have not been completed or are completed inaccurately, the fee has not been included or some of the necessary documentation which has to be submitted with the application is missing, then the application is usually rejected.

When the Reading Festival first applied for their licence under the new procedures in 2006, there was a large number of representations. However, when they applied to vary their licence in 2008, there were no representations. So it all depends on the nature of the application.

Since the introduction of the Licensing Act 2003, which came into force on 24 November 2005, once you have a premises licence, it remains in force for ever unless you surrender it or you wish to vary it. As the Reading Festival premises licence was issued in 2006, there is no requirement to apply for an annual licence. Whilst we do have some events who apply for a licence each year, they do not have a problem in doing so.