New rules Berkshire retro music festival must obey this year

Rewind Festival South is an annual 1980s and retro music festival held at Temple Island Meadows on the south bank of the River Thames  near Henley.

Notable acts include ska band UB40, British punk rockers The Undertones and 80s heartthrob Martin Kemp.

The event attracts thousands of music lovers each day over the three days it runs.

But neighbours have complained about the intensification of traffic and noisy reversing alarms coming from lorries used to sent up the event.

These complaints and concerns were raised Remenham Farm Residents Association (RFRA) which called for a review of the Rewind Festival events licence which is renewed every year.

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Temple Island Meadows falls within Remenham Parish, which is governed by Wokingham Borough Council.

New conditions have been imposed on the event following a council meeting.

These conditions particularly relate to the management of traffic and changes to reversing alarms for lorries to limit disturbance to neighbours.

While Rewind Festival has already had to hire traffic management company in previous years, it must now undertake an annual survey of traffic impacts arising from set up, the event itself and packing down.

Lorries blocking roads in Remenham near Henley, presumably due to Rewind Festival South traffic. Credit: Remenham Farm Residents Association

Also, the organisers must have suitably qualified members of staff to direct traffic at the junction of White Hill and Remenham Lane who must be continously present during the event.

The junction is a key route on the A4130 which leads to Henley.

Additionally, the council has ruled that community meetings will be held before and after the event which the organisers must attend.

As for the reversing alarms for vehicles used during the event, a condition has been added that states white noise beepers must be used on these vehicles.

Examples of vehicles used include lorries and tractors.

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The decision notice states: “The reason for adding these conditions were that it was accepted that Traffic Management last year had left much to be desired and the sub-committee found that this has caused nuisance to the local community in terms of traffic congestion, noise and other pollution.”

The decision was made by councillors Beth Rowland (Liberal Democrats , South Lake), Mike Smith (Liberal Democrats, Maiden Erlegh) and Jackie Rance (Conservative, Shinfield South).

It was reached following a hearing of the council’s licensing sub-committee on Friday, April 28. At Wokingham Borough Council, decisions are issued five days after a meeting is held.

Rewind Festival South is due to take place from Friday to Sunday August 18-20.

At the hearing, one the festival organisers said that ‘just short of’ 8,000 people camp at Temple Island Meadows, with 4,000 people getting weekend tickets.