Noise at Glastonbury Festival:
The Festival operates a large number of performances across the site, generating world class music and entertainment that makes the Festival globally renowned.
We understand that for those that live locally, sometimes the sound may be audible during day to day life and the FAQ’s below outline how the event is monitored and managed in accordance with the licence conditions, and in partnership with the local authority.
Glastonbury Festival – Sound Management FAQ’s
The Glastonbury Festival is licensed to operate from 08:00 Wednesday 26th June – 17:00 Monday 1st July 2024.
Noise from the sound checks and performances may be audible to local residents. This is not uncommon for major music festivals however the Festival aims to appropriately manage the impact of the Festival as a whole on the community.
These FAQs are designed to answer specific questions around the management of sound coming from the site.
How is the sound regulated by the Local Authority?
The premises licence, issued by Somerset Council, includes a series of conditions that the Festival must legally comply with. These include limits on how loud music noise can be at agreed locations outside the festival boundary, formal monitoring arrangements and other technical sound control processes implemented by the Festival to manage the impact of sound.
The licence conditions are set to ensure the festival complies with the licensing objectives from the Licensing Act 2003. This includes the prevention of public nuisance across all event operations, including noise.
How does the Festival work to manage music sound?
The Festival’s licence requires that the organiser’s appoint a team of independent specialist acoustic consultants. This team undertake monitoring of the sound generated on site, and also how this affects residents at specified location in close proximity to the Festival.
The team operates 24 hours a day, with people based on the site itself, liaising with sound engineers, as well as personnel off-site who assess the noise. Industry leading technology is used to monitor real time music levels at individual stages, as well as offsite locations.
Does the Local Authority audit compliance with the licence conditions?
Professional acoustic monitoring equipment is positioned at agreed locations around the site to monitor sound levels with the licence conditions. The data generated from this equipment is accessible to the local authority as well as the Glastonbury Festival acoustic monitoring team. Offsite professional monitoring teams can attend any complaints of disturbance and take measurements on specialist calibrated precision sound level meters.
I can hear music at my property – should this be possible?
Yes, it is possible that you may be able to hear music at your property, but it may be that this is not causing you a disturbance or breaching any licence conditions.
Music noise is very subjective and what is considered a disturbance by one person, may not be the same experience for a nearby neighbour.
Those living closest to the festival will hear the most noise, and people living further away hearing progressively less as the distance increases, however music levels experienced may be substantially altered depending on the weather conditions and wind direction and strength.
Most noise heard at a distance from the Festival site will be below the agreed levels for the Festival.
I’m experiencing disturbance at my property how do I complain?
If you are a local resident and have the Village Hotline telephone number, please call at the time of the disturbance if at all possible. The hotline operates 24 hours throughout the Festival. You will be asked to provide details of your location and the type of disturbance you are experiencing.
If you are not within the catchment of the Village Hotline please email us directly via the Festival contact us page and this will be forwarded directly to the Festival licensing team and noise management teams. All complaints are shared with the Local Authority.
Will you come and assess sound levels at my property?
Yes, if you give consent for a visit – members of the specialist acoustic consultant team and / or Somerset Council (depending on your location) can contact you to arrange to attend the outside of your property and take measurements. Who attends the visit will be determined jointly by the Festival and Local Authority noise teams.
When does the Festival entertainment actually start?
The primary days of entertainment are Friday 28th – Sunday 30th when the pyramid and other large stages operate. Low level entertainment is permitted to operate on the Wednesday and a majority of the smaller stages on Thursday before the main Festival starts.
When does the music turn off?
Main stage performances finish by 00:00 (23:30 on Sunday) with other stages turning off incrementally at 00:30 (00:00 on Sunday), 03:00 (02:30 on Sunday) and 06:00 (05:30 on Sunday) depending on the size of the sound system, and location on site.