Festival chiefs beef up security as bigger crowds are forecast

Traffic levels for the August Bank Holiday event, at Bramham Park, near Wetherby, are expected to be around 1,500 higher than 2010 because of the increase in the numbers attending.

An event management plan, to be discussed by Leeds Council next Tuesday, says the capacity for this year’s event has been confirmed at 75,000, made up of 70,000 ticket holders and 5,000 guests.

Security measures include:

Nitrous oxide, megaphones, air horns and spray cans added to the list of items which are banned from the site;

Confiscated items will be disposed of in skips at the campsite gates – with no facility for collecting them later because of a “poor take-up of this in previous years”;

Particular attention will be paid to confiscating smoke bombs, flares and gas canisters;

Fire controller to be based in the security control room at all times, rather than just at strategic times only;

Organisers to increase security staff at campsites;

Two portable buildings to be provided for an evidential recovery police officer and for prisoner handling for West Yorkshire Police.

The organisers have told Leeds Council that there will be an almost 30 per cent increase on security and stewarding shifts compared to a previous management plan.

Those guests arriving by, or using, camper vans will be in a separate zone which will be staffed.

There will be additional security placed at a number of areas, including at all disabled platforms, at the “silent disco”, for routes used by traders and production crew and at the campsite gates for the Monday post-festival day shift.

Ticket holders wanting to arrive on Wednesday, August 24, will be sold early arrival permits.

There will be 20,000 of these on sale, the same number as 2010.

“We have not increased the number of early bird permits pro rata to the capacity increase as we would like a second year of Wednesday working well before loading more vehicles onto the Wednesday traffic plan,” according to the management plan.

The total number of weekend cars predicted is 14,000. The average number of cars arriving per day expected on Friday, Saturday and Sunday has been calculated at 850.

The total number of drop-off trips to the site has been estimated at 6,500.

Based on the arrival patterns of last year, the predicted number of cars, including drop-offs, arriving on the Thursday between 5am and 4pm has been put at just over 7,500.

“Both the 2009 modelling and our previous experience of the additional capacity of the A64 travelling westbound on the Thursday demonstrate that the traffic plan is predicted to comfortably accommodate the potential increase in capacity,” it adds.

The bus route from Leeds city centre to the site has been changed and will no longer use Toulston Lane following a complaint from Bramham Parish Council during the festival in 2010.

Ticket holders who start fires in the arena are warned that they will be evicted.

An arena team will be deployed to deal with any fires, using backpacks containing specialist equipment.

On Sunday afternoon litter pickers will be out in force to start clearing the arena of litter, including bins.

Members of Leeds City Council’s Licensing Committee will discuss the management plan at a meeting at Civic Hall at 10am on Tuesday, August 16.

This year’s event, which runs on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, August 26 to 28, features a line-up of top bands including Pulp, the Strokes, Muse and Madness among many others.