Country music festival EH32 in East Lothian cancelled at last minute due to noise complaints

A country music festival in East Lothian has been cancelled at the last minute due to noise complaints.

EH32 Live was due to take place at Cockenzie House and Port Seton with small scale gigs on weekends throughout the summer.

However the event, which was set to feature Becca Hunter, Lori, Youth Band Day and Rhys Heaven, alongside a ‘Kids Karnival’ will not take place after East Lothian Council stepped in “days before” the festival was to begin due to noise complaints.

It comes after the music festival generated complaints last year about noise, drug use and foul language.

A spokesperson for the festival said: “All EH32 Live events have been ceased by East Lothian Council. Even though our licence was granted unanimously by the board and we were given the green light to go ahead, environmental health and the planning department have backtracked just days before we were meant to start.

“They say this is due to a small number of noise complaints and the class of use of the gardens.”

The organisers behind the event have now submitted new plans to the council, and have reached out to the local community for support with a petition titled “save EH32 Live”.

They added: “New plans have been submitted to the planning department and we have done everything that the council has asked us to do in regards to the complaints. We have agreed to stop the music earlier and have invested in sound proofing equipment.

“We are aware planning submissions can take a while and we have been told it will be a lengthy process on this occasion due to the complaints.

“However, we are really struggling to get answers on what this means for this year’s event. We have spoken to the local councillors and are aware the local MP has been involved.

“We have exhausted all means of trying for answers so we feel like our only option is to ask for help from you all. We have started a petition to get support from the community so we can prove to the council how much this event means to everyone.”

A spokesperson for East Lothian Council said: “We have been liaising with the organisers for a number of months to try to help ensure their planned events had all necessary permissions in place.

Unfortunately, the relevant applications for the music events have only been submitted by the organisers in the past few weeks. They require to have in place the appropriate Public Entertainment Licence, planning consent and a licence to sell alcohol.

An alcohol licence has been granted and planning application has been received and is being processed. To progress this, the organisers need to finalise their Pubic Entertainment Licence application. The statutory consultation period for this would end on June 27th.

The council would then need to seek to organise a special meeting of the Licensing sub committee to determine whether to approve the application. We are aware the festival was due to take place over the course of 12 weekends.

“If approved later this month, the organisers may be able to continue with some of their planned programme.”