PLANS to stage a large scale music festival in Newbury are gathering speed as organisers prepare to apply for an events licence under the new name, Lilo Festival.
Plans to hold the festival, formerly known as Newfest, attracted the interest of thousands of would-be revellers when the idea was first tentatively launched on social networking site Facebook.
Now, with more than 2,300 Facebook members and 130 interested acts, the festival management team, which includes Pig and Paper owner Martin Kavanagh and former Snooty Fox events manager Matt Sutton, are preparing to apply for an event licence.
Mr Kavanagh said the management team hoped to apply to West Berkshire Council in the next two weeks for a licence to hold the event , however under planning conditions, a venue must be specified in the licence application.
Marting Kavanagh said: “We’re working very hard with the local authority and a major venue locally and have targeted two potential dates - one in June and one in September.”
After a meeting with the organisers, Head of licensing, Brian Leahy said the festival organisers may not know if they have been granted a licence until just ten days before the event if it is held on the planned June date.
Newbury Showground responded to rumours it had been earmarked for the festival by saying it had been in discussions with the organisers but that nothing had been confirmed.
Showground general manager, Rebecca Elvin, said that a festival at the showground was out of the question in September due to the time it takes to set up the Royal County of Berkshire Show.
Ms Elvin said they had been in “basic” discussions with Mr Kavanagh but had only considered a date in June, not September.
The cost of underwriting the festival has been met by local businesses with one yet-to-be-named major sponsor fronting half of the cash.
Mr Kavanagh said: “The pledges of support from a number of local businesses has been phenomenal.”
“Financially we have got enough support to underwrite the festival.”
“The festival is going to be rebranded as the Lilo Festival, a combination of live and local, because it just sounds a bit edgier than Newfest.”
Although Lilo Festival is primarily to showcase local artists, the festival organisers hope to book a major international group as the headline draw.
Three thousand tickets will be released for the festival and will only go on sale physically in designated Newbury selling points for the first ten days after their release, in a bid to give local residents first refusal.