MORE than £250,000 will be spent on improving the parking infrastructure at this year’s Isle of Wight Festival.
The cash will be used to double the size of the parking area and improve entrances, which last year failed to cope with cars arriving on site and caused traffic jams across the Isle of Wight.
Festival goers will have to pay £10 to park — although the cost of a weekend camping ticket has dropped by £5 — but there will be two car parks, instead of one, with multiple entrances, hard surface roads, temporary tracking and space for 12,000 vehicles.
"Everyone said last year’s weather was the worst for 100 years but that’s something we have to be prepared for. I’m responsible and I can’t afford a repeat of last year’s problems," said festival promoter John Giddings.
"We need to make sure everything is perfect. There is no room for error."
Mr Giddings said he feared the festival could have lost its licence after aerospace company GKN called for it to be reviewed last year.
As previously reported, Isle of Wight Council licensing chiefs decided against reducing the length of the licence or the event’s capacity — which Mr Giddings said could have prompted him to move the festival to the mainland.
"There was a gut-wrenching moment when they came back in with their decision and I thought they could actually take the licence away, which I hadn’t truly contemplated before," he said.
"The review should never have gone ahead but I think it was good to get everything out in the open. People know now that although I’m the one in charge, I was let down by the authorities around me.
"But now I want to put last year behind us and have the best year ever."
Reporter: emilyp@iwcpmail.co.uk