BNP festival will go ahead despite licensing setback
Organisers of the Red, White and Blue event walked out of a meeting of Amber Valley Borough Council's licensing panel last night after more than two hours of representations.
The application for a premises licence, which would allow music to be played and alcohol sold at the three-day event in Denby, was withdrawn after Derbyshire police objected.
Before the meeting, police had not objected but changed their position following new intelligence.
Craig Sutherland, the force's solicitor, told councillors at Ripley Town Hall: “We have received information that left-wing groups would be mobilising for the purpose of demonstration and some are going to seek violence and attack the BNP.”
Members of the BNP who attended last night's meeting were greeted by more than 30 members of Derby Unite against Fascism and Nottinghamshire Stop the BNP campaign, who protested with banners outside the town hall.
Security at the meeting was tight with 30 police officers on patrol, some with recording equipment filming the protesters.
The three-day event is due to take place in Codnor-Denby Lane, Denby from Friday, August 15, and is expected to attract 5,000 people. Last year, the first time the event was held, 800 people attended.
Mr Sutherland said that police started to receive information towards the end of last month that some left-wing groups wanted to “shut down” the festival.
“We have got two dramatically opposing groups and it could lead to violence and disruption,” he said.
Mr Sutherland also said that, if the licence was granted, police wanted to see certain conditions adhered to by the organisers.
These included a seven-metre-high fence around the site, increasing the number of security staff to one per one hundred people and that the festival should only be one-and-a-half days long.
After listening to the police's position and opposition from local residents, representatives of Codnor and Denby Parish councils and Heanor and Loscoe Town Council, John Walker, national treasurer for the BNP, said the application would be withdrawn.
“We have come to the conclusion that this whole process has now become a farce,” he said. “We have been forced to jump through even more hoops.
“We are going to withdraw this application and this event will go ahead without a licence.”
Mr Walker and five other members of the BNP then walked out of the meeting.
A spokesman for the borough council said an official statement on the withdrawal was expected today.
banner protest: Police were at Ripley Town Hall last night as protesters arrived to make their case against an entertainment licence for the BNP's Red, White and Blue festival.
