South Kesteven District Council to decide on licence for Ramroot summer music festival at Arena UK near Grantham

A decision on a new licence for a major festival will be made by councillors on Tuesday (June 10).

South Kesteven District Council’s alcohol, entertainment and late-night refreshment licensing committee will consider a time-limited licence for the Ramroot Festival at Arena UK in Allington, near Grantham.

The festival, due to take place from July 4 to July 7, would feature more than 75 artists performing across five themed stages, with a focus on genres including drum and bass, reggae and dub, jazz, UK garage, folk and psychedelic music.

Headline acts include Gentleman’s Dub Club, Mungo’s Hi Fi, The Skints and Fabio & Grooverider.

The five areas will span dub, reggae, drum and bass, UK Garage, and a chillout lounge.

The application, originally submitted in April, has undergone several amendments following discussions with Lincolnshire Police and environmental health officers.

These include scaled-back hours for alcohol sales and live music, along with having a premises supervisor.

Under the latest proposals, live and recorded music on outdoor stages would end by midnight each night. Alcohol sales would end two hours after the music.

Organisers have also committed to producing a finalised event and noise management plan before the festival begins.

The application has faced opposition, including from a resident concerned about potential noise disturbance and traffic in the village of Allington.

Mr Carton said: “This site is most unsuitable for such a gathering and the applicant should look elsewhere.”

He added: “The applicant is now suggesting the residents of Allington are to suffer 15 continuous hours of noise from 9am to midnight on three consecutive days in summer.

“It should clearly be understood that what a minority consider music, the majority consider a horrible noise. An unpleasant noise one is forced to hear just has to be a nuisance.”

A second objection was withdrawn after discussions with environmental health, and a third was submitted too late to be considered.

Niall Walker, of organisers Lovis Media, submitted an updated plan with improvements to safety, noise and resident concerns.

These included enhanced security, increased noise control, updated timings, a reduction in bars, and clearer details around volunteers, staff, waste management and vendor policies.

“Maintaining a good relationship with the local residents is of very high importance to us, so that the festival can take place for years to come, and become something really special,” he told South Kesteven District Council in emails.

“We also don’t want to cause any disturbances to those in the local areas.”

He said the festival will now only use outdoor stages due to a logistical issue with the indoor setup. However, the number of performances will remain the same.

Noise mitigation will include physical barriers such as straw bale insulation.

He also provided a revised site plan and addressed requests from Lincolnshire Police and council officers.

Councillors can approve, condition or reject the application.

The committee will weigh the application against licensing objectives, including the prevention of public nuisance and protection of children from harm.

If approved, any future events at the venue would still require new applications, as the current proposal only applies to the 2025 festival dates.

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