Ararat Rural City Council grants five-year planning permit to Pitch Music Festival near Moyston from 2018

The application was approved during Tuesday night's council meeting, with only one councillor voting against the proposal over bushfire concerns.  

The application was for the use of land for a “Place of Assembly” and associated temporary building and works for a music festival for a period of five years with the first festival to take place on Labour Day Weekend in March 2018.

It was proposed that a maximum of 10,000 tickets will be sold in the second year up from the 7000 limit at the event in 2017.

Participant numbers were proposed to rise to 11,000 in 2019 and 12,500 in the years 2020-2022. 

Ararat Rural City requested 56 additional conditions relation to road dust, food safety, mobile communications and fire risks.

Cr Darren Ford said the planning document looked "very comprehensive"

Cr Peter Beales spoke against the motion.

"The problem that I have always had with this event, as a former member of Kinglake Council, I shut my eyes and think of what could go wrong.

"The roads are not good enough for evacuation.

"My conscience won't allow me to support and event of that type in that location at that time of year."

The motion was passed with opposition from Cr Beales.

Earlier in the meeting, councillors heard public deposition about the festival.

A representative from Pitch Music Festival near Moyston is making a public deposition saying the event is much more prepared and next year's event will have less issues.

The rep said the festival had spent $350,000 on the local community and suppliers and that planning objections have declined from 13 to 1.

He said the festival was seeking a five-year permit to give the organisers and the community certainty.

Cr Beales said councillors had visited the site of the 2018 Pitch Music festival and they were impressed.

He said there were a number of complaints about dust from road traffic and local internet users being kicked offline by the surge in demand from festival goers.

The festival representative  told councillors that there would be a lot more dust suppression and Telstra would deploy a mobile tower on wheels that is used for other large events.

Cr Jo Armstrong also said she wanted to ask about communications.

Cr Gwenda Allgood said there had been complaints about people and shops in nearby towns not being informed but she believed that issue had been resolved.

Moyston resident Lydia Jackson has given a public deposition that the Pitch Music Festival had great benefit to the town and also Ararat Lions Club and CFA.

Ms Jackson said festival patrons were "very polite, courteous and helpful" and the community was "looking forward to future festivals".

"The money that this festival generated was outside money and was a massive win for businesses in Ararat Rural City and showcased our beautiful region," she said.

Cr Darren Ford said her testimony was "very convincing".