Police object to Cambridge Cider and Music Festival plans for Great Shelford

Police have objected to plans for a new festival in Great Shelford.

The Cambridge Cider and Music Festival is due to take place from 31 May to 1 June at Shelford Rugby Club, off Cambridge Road.

Organiser OnTick Ltd said it will be a “family-orientated festival”, featuring “the very best tribute acts across two days of music”.

But Cambridgeshire Constabulary and some neighbours have raised concerns, with the police’s licensing officer calling the site “wholly inadequate for this type of event”.

South Cambridgeshire District Council will meet on Thursday (17 April) to decide whether to grant a licence for the event.

The organisers applied to hold the festival annually over three days (Friday to Saturday), from noon to 11pm, and sought permission to sell alcohol between these hours,live music, performative wrestling shows and dance performances.

The initial application said the event is “anticipated to attract a maximum capacity of 4,999 attendees”.

The organiser described measures to ensure the event is “planned and delivered responsibly”, including having security staff on site and plans to agree a full security plan with police in advance.

The company said all staff would be trained and supervised, and that it is “committed to ensuring a safe and healthy environment for all visitors”.

Noise levels would be monitored to ensure sound levels were within any agreed limits and hotline made available for anyone to call if they had noise concerns.

A letter of recommendation was also submitted from Lichfield District Council, which said the organiser had run a festival in its area for the last three years.

It said the organisers had demonstrated “a high level of professionalism, organisation and commitment to delivering a well-managed and enjoyable event”.

The letter went on to state that the festival had presented “unique logistical challenges” due to how close it was to residential areas and a lack of on-site parking.

However, it said the organisers had “implemented a well-structured public parking strategy” and said there had been “minimal disruption to the local community”.

Great Shelford Parish Council also supported the application, stating that “it sounds like a positive event for the community”.

But Cambridgeshire Constabulary said site access was “wholly inadequate”, adding: “This event is simply too large for this location and as such any traffic management plan would not be able to prevent significant public nuisance being caused to local residents, and other road users in the immediate vicinity.”

Members of the public shared concerns about parking issues and the potential noise.

One person said: “I strongly object to the approval of this event. Shelford Rugby Club is in a residential area and as such the noise and disruption from a three-day event, presumably every year, is unacceptable.”

Another person feared “the amount of road traffic that will be generated by the event” and that surrounding streets would be used by those unable to park at the club, potentially blocking people’s driveways and creating a possible “hazard” for emergency vehicles.

The organisers responded by offering to make the 2025 event a one-off and to reduce the capacity by half.

“With this updated capacity this would be a not-for-profit event for our company. However, we have already sold 1,550 tickets to local residents of which 420 are children’s tickets. Our reputation means more to us than financial gain,” it said.

“We will of course still deploy a full professional traffic management plan, a full noise management plan and a full security deployment plan to ensure that there is very minimal disruption to yourself.”

A report said none of the objections had been withdrawn following the letter. District councillors consider the application and the objections before deciding whether to grant the licence.