A green tariff could be introduced on Isle of Wight Festival tickets in the future.
It comes as part of the terms agreed in a new 5-year land-hire deal with the Isle of Wight Council for staging at Seaclose Park, the home of the event.
As part of the renegotiated terms, organisers will pay £86,700 a year for the use of Seaclose Park and North Fairlee Farm sites, subject to an annual uplift in line with the Consumer Price Index.
Speaking at the council’s cabinet meeting last Thursday night, Councillor Lora Peacey-Wilcox, leader of the council, said after the original agreement ran out in 2019, negotiations were taking place just weeks before the start of the festival so it was not a good way to operate. She said through the negotiations, she was meticulous on the detail so the Island got a better deal than before.
What was really exciting about the agreement, Councillor Peacey-Wilcox said, was a tariff-based green fund for Island biosphere projects.
Councillor Jonathan Bacon, cabinet member for the environment, said there was talk of the tariff being 50p to a £1 on ticket price or car parking ticket for those attending via non-sustainable modes of transport. He said it was a valuable and exciting potential for the Island and the festival as promoters, Live Nation were looking to reduce the carbon footprint of the event.
Councillor Bacon hoped it would be another selling point of the iconic festival and thought it could help the festival move to becoming the ‘greenest’ one in the country, and make it a more attractive event for people.
The funds from the levy would go towards local initiatives like Mission Zero projects but the final details would be subject to further negotiations.
Councillor Stephens said he did not like the 5-year deal and while it might save officers’ time, it did not safeguard the financial viability of this area for the event.
The contract also provided a mechanism for relocating the festival should the development of Newport Harbour take place up to 2027.
John Giddings, Promoter, Isle of Wight Festival, has said:
“We are very pleased that the council has approved a new five-year agreement enabling the continued use of Seaclose Park for the Isle of Wight Festival. For more than twenty years we have worked with local stakeholders to turn the Isle of Wight Festival into one of the biggest and best in the country and this agreement secures that for the future. The festival delivers a significant economic boost to the island each year and with this deal in place we can focus on making sure the event stays at the forefront of the UK live music scene.”
What a joke.
When this green mob are fretting over the chemicals in our water, the micro plastics in our food, odd they don’t give a fig for the smoke they inhale from weed, nor the chemicals in tablets they happily consume or the cocktails they inject.
Same with green transport, odd how energy use matters not when loud power hungry speaker pulsate and the massive energy in lighting, and fuel used in getting the festival set up is considered.
Lets just carry on using all forms of energy and SEE that those in power are using ‘being nice’ as a means to get even richer from ‘green taxes’ for the gullible to ‘think’ they are saving the planet, whilst those informing them of what to do, live in fully heated massive mansions. Think
when the council say it COULD and they are on the take then what they mean to say it WILL.
But if they say it COULD in our favor it most defiantly WONT.
They should put a green tax on all the methane the council produce each day
So weird that the council will milk festy goers for a tax, yet their pals, C aptiva who are building and ruining the Island aren’t asked to contribute anything for the thousands of new people who will need dentists, hospital care, doctors, education, and all add to the traffic.
Try TAXING your building buddies or are you afraid it may come out of YOUR cut?
Spot on. When will the council take a stand against profiteering developers.
The multitude of empty commercial properties can be re purposed for housing and their would be no need for any huge developments.
The towns would the look a lot less like war zones
The greed of the few should not be allowed to decimate the rural nature of this island , it is the very fact that it is has green spaces that attracts tourism.
Council please wise up and listen to the people
I worked on the festival a few years ago and there is nothing “green” about it, the energy and diesel for setting up and taking down and generators running 24hrs a day every day, huge amounts of waste including uncooked food thrown out, it really is quite depressing when looked at from a “green” point of view.
Most green events do this lip service.
Great photos of Glastonbury Green car charging points powered by diesel generators last year.
Green con rolls on and on.
Council keen to kill its golden goose with greed.
Ask festival goers to give a voluntary 10 pound Green donation….then see how many youngsters really care about environment then.
Green or more weed? Let me see!?
£1 per ticket is like topping up the ocean with a single drop of water.
Another rip off under the guise of green. Basically it’s a pis& take.
Just a thought all the rubbish that is left behind consumed from the festival should be sent back to the mainland and put into landfill.
That would definitely help keep are island greener.
Green, ok, how are they going to power all the equipment then, solar panels, nope, generators spewing out fumes everywhere. Extra buses spewing out fumes to carry the so called eco warriors about. Some of them will probably come over in the obligatory 4×4’s too. A load of lies, just another way to grab extra cash, of which the island will not gain from at all.
Those rock star helicopters are solar powered I hear?
So the plebs are having to pay even more for the multi-millionaires to make even more money. Why can’t the organisers absorb this cost? I’ve always supported the festival and always gone but being a grumpy old git, probably time to call it a day for me once I start to resent yet another expense.
That tired old meaningless and stupid word “sustainable” is always wheeled out by the green fools, meanwhile unsustainable house building and population growth is fine..
Look at Sandown and Shanklin crazy golf courses .Once lawns , shrubs and flowerbeds .
Sustainable council has buried them under ugly steel, plastic and fiberglass pirate and dinosaurs rubbish which produced loads of co2 to make and will be landfiill in 25 years .
Couldn’t make it up.
Apart from the Council getting paid what appears to be a very small sum considering the numbers attending, how many others actually gain financial benefits from this festival. Every year IoW Radio pleas for shoppers to come into Newport as states the shops are open (those that are still operating). The closure of a main “blood line” into a town centre isn’t a productive move for all.
Wonder where they think the festival will move to in 2027 – anyone privy to the thoughts of the current Council – No – no surprises there then as I sometimes wonder if they do think before they act.
oh for fsake please foff
What a load of cr4p!!!
The IoW festival is a really great event, but no one should confuse it and link it to sustainability, or “green”. Its a net contributor to co2 and other emissions.
Of course the event isn’t anywhere near “green” given huge logistical trails for performers and festival goers alike. Ferry, car, truck, aviation fuel, water, sewage treatment, generators, plastic drink cups, food containers, the list goes on and on..
It isn’t possible to reach net zero with an event such as this, especially being on an Island, a huge forest of trees would be required to offset the co2 emissions.
I like the event very much but “green” it isn’t.