Yours and Owls has submitted an application to the Wollongong Local Planning Panel to extend its partnership with UOW on using the Wollongong campus for the music festival each year for the next six years.
Yours and Owls director, Adam Smith attended the panel looking to alleviate the concerns of chair members and Wollongong residents who were concerned about the potential traffic and packed parking that the festival would cause over the October 14-15 weekend, when the music festival will be held.
“We’ve done absolutely everything in our power to mitigate and minimise our impact on the local neighbourhood,” Mr Smith said.
“We’ve consulted quite heavily with stakeholders, police, council, ambulance and the neighbourhood forum.
“There are three key processes: we have an agreement with UOW, we have the DA we’re discussing right now and we have a safety management plan which is assessed by Liquor & Gaming NSW.”
Mr Smith went on to explain that the safety management plan is an extensive process that the festival is held and bound by every year which operates at a state level, meaning they’re restricted not just by WCC but also by the state government.
Concerns raised by chair member Scott Lee about the amount of festival goers was raised, as in previous years the music festival reached a peak of around 14,500 attendees. It’s expected that figure will increase to 25,000 this year, with a potential to accommodate 40,000.
“25,000 is a big number, 40,000 is a much bigger number again,” Mr Scott said.
“The safety management plan, does that include an analysis of the capacity of the site to provide a safe space for people to move around in?”
Mr Smith said that they have consulted with an expert on how much they can safely accommodate.
The Yours and Owls’ agreement with UOW also comes with its own restrictions.