The Isle of Wight Council has joined Island residents and businesses in celebrating the success of the Isle of Wight Festival, after 50,000 people enjoyed the biggest event ever in what was a relatively incident-free weekend.
The festival, which included headlining sets from Coldplay, Foo Fighter and The Prodigy, was the fifth annual festival held, and is rapidly developing a reputation as being a safe, fun event for the whole family.
This is due to the professional way it is organised by Solo, and successful partnerships with the police and council: there is a zero-tolerance to drugs, high levels of policing outside the event and additional portable CCTV cameras providing live images of the Fairlee Road area to the Newport control centre.
The festival is located only a short walk from Newport town centre. The council has listened to the concerns of residents from previous years and this year introduced parking permits for Fairlee residents and the introduction of a residents’ helpline for non-emergency incidents. A mobile response centre was on site throughout the life of the event.
Leader of the Isle of Wight Council, who attended the event said: “The Isle of Wight Festival has become one of the best events of its kind in the country, and the council is proud to be a partner. The future of the Island is very much dependent on high-quality events, high-quality tourism, and the council showing it will support innovation and vision. We are delighted with this year’s festival and would like to thank John Giddings and all the team at Solo for their hard work and professionalism in putting on the best Isle of Wight Festival yet. I look forward to working with Solo to ensure next year’s event is even better.”