Christian festival called off

Hope in the Park was to feature 'Edgy Fest' - a series of performances by youth groups - but, having heard police objections to a temporary event notice, Rother's licensing panel decided to quash the plans.

Organisers felt they could not discriminate against young people and have postponed the whole event, including workshops and united services on the Sunday.

Applicant Cllr Michael Ensor and representatives from Sussex Police appeared before the panel last Friday.

Cllr Ensor told the panel he could address police concerns by limiting numbers to the Saturday night concert and fencing off the park.

The law requires no more than 499 people should attend.

He added a closure order for the park would enable stewards to search people entering the event and prevent trouble makers from coming in.

Cllr Ensor was told by the police and council officers 'reasonable notice' of the closure order to members of the public could be difficult at such a late stage.

Cathie Wolfe, East Sussex divisional licensing officer for Sussex Police, said she was 'even more concerned' at the hearing than when she lodged the police objections originally.

She said: "Is there a public closure order? It must be placed in a local newspaper giving reasonable notice. For us, the police, the whole security of the event hinges on whether there is a public closure order or not. If there is no closure order, security, marshalls or whoever cannot limit numbers in the park or search for alcohol weapons and drugs.

"This is not a ticketed event so you don't know how many people are going to arrive. It is quite possible 700 young people will turn up and will have travelled from Eastbourne, Polegate, Catsfield ...

"The parents will drop off their children and go out for the night. Having been licensing officer for nine years we have had experiences where children are unwell and their parents cannot be traced.

"You could have a situation where 300 people too many turn up for a 400 person event. Security may say, 'one in one out', but they could well go to the local shops and make mischief.

"I did some research today on the website, Myspace. This has been widely advertised and groups of friends are saying they will be going. It is likely to be bigger than 300 people.

"In a really worst case scenario you could have two or three thousand people turn up and the police would have to let the event go ahead because they could not cancel it."

She warned such events are usually planned six months in advance.

"You could plan for more resources. I'm not saying you would get them, but other commanders could be made aware you were expecting 300 or 400 people.

"I think what the organisers are doing is laudable, but you even if you end up with 500 people there it would be 100 too many."

Inspector James Scott, of Bexhill Police, said: "On a Saturday night we get children from as far away as Lewes coming to Bexhill. For some reason it has become a place for them to congregate. With the advertisement on Myspace, I feel we would need to prepare for a substantial number."

Police representatives said they would be prepared to support the festival in future if they were given more notice.

Speaking after the decision, Cllr Ensor said he felt 'considerable regret' at stopping the concert.

He added he hoped to organise a new festival for some time later in the year.