DORSET Police say they have no confidence in a festival planned for Gaunts House, Wimborne, being able to run within the restrictions of the licensing laws.

The event, Sounds Beautiful, is due to open on June 27th with 300 tickets sold and a similar number of artists and staff expected to be on site.

One of the organisers said after Wednesday's licensing hearing that he was confident the event will still go ahead, even if the full application is rejected.

Steve Norris said they would consider applying for a Temporary Event licence, if the full Premises Licence application fails; withdrawing the sale of alcohol, or even looking at another site.

"We are confident we will deliver the festival and await the result of the Council," said Mr Norris after the hearing.

He had told the Dorchester licensing panel hearing that officials had not invited them to a crucial safety meeting and had often taken a long time to reply to queries because some council staff only worked part-time.

Police Sergeant Gareth Gosling told a licensing hearing that while he believed the organisers were well-intentioned and wanted to deliver a safe and compliant event, the lack of detail in the application and some supporting papers, meant the force were not satisfied the event could meet all the licensing objectives, many of which relate to safety.

Senior Dorset Council environmental health officer Darren Naraine shared the Sergeant’s view of the organisers as being well-meaning but told councillors: “without the details we need in the Noise Management Plan we don’t have confidence the event can be run without causing public nuisance.”

The festival has been described as a four-day family event with live bands, DJs, speaker and comedy stage, workshops and kids’ area with a ‘healing field’ offering alternative therapies.

The Premises Licence requested asked for plays, films and live music up to 11pm with recorded music up until 2am on Friday and Saturday and until midnight on the opening day, Thursday, and final day on Sunday. Alcohol sales requested were to coincide with the performance hours.

Holt Parish Council has asked Dorset councillors considering insisting that all music stops at 11pm to avoid disturbing residents.

The directors of the Ringwood-registered company behind the event, Wendy Morrow and Steve Norris, told a licensing panel of councillors at County Hall, Dorchester that they had submitted all their documents in October last year – and had done their best to amend and update them as queries arose.

“It has been a long, drawn-out process… we thought we had dealt with all the things we needed to, but we didn’t get invited to the Safety Advisory Group meeting, which we were expecting to,” said Mr Norris.

He outlined plans for the event including details of security and stewards, paramedic cover, noise monitoring and securing an emergency vehicle route.

“Everything is in place. We are happy to talk to anyone and everyone to get this agreed,” he said.

Ms Morrow, a musician and choir leader, said she had organised and taken part in similar events but admitted that the festival, with up to 1,000 attendees, was bigger than anything she had previously organised, although other members of the team did have experience which they had tried to learn from.

The Dorset Council licensing panel will announce their decision within 5 working days of Wednesday’s hearing.

Panel chairman Cllr Derek Beer said that whatever the outcome there was an appeal process to Poole Magistrates.