Mendip District Council have accepted the recommendation of their officers to prosecute Michael Eavis for breaching the terms of the Public Entertainment Licence (PEL) for Glastonbury 2000. They will also bring a prosecution for breach of a Noise Abatement Notice. The prosecutions were recommended to Councillors by the Mendip District Council : Report on Glastonbury Festival 2000. The court case is expected to be heard in March 2001. The outcome of the case does not affect inherently any future PEL application. Mr Eavis and the Festival Organisers are not surprised at the decision to prosecute and accept that if the merits of the PEL system are not to be undermined there must be prosecutions in the case of significant breaches. Mr Eavis also commented that he felt the decision to prosecute was effectively made at the meeting in October where the report was presented. Mendip claim that Mr Eavis breached the terms of the PEL by taking inadequate measures to limit of the number of people on site resulting in there being more than the 100,000 people permitted. Mendip's report clearly infers a belief that the number in attendance was in excess of 200,000. Mr Eavis has said that he has always acknowledged that there were more people on site than should have been there. Two Noise Abatement Notices (under section 80 of the Environmental Protection Act 1980) were served on Mr Eavis as a pre-emptive measure. The notices specifically covered the days before and after the Festival. The alleged breach concerns noise emanating from Pipplers Field in Pylle, outside the Festival site, on the nights following the Festival. This field was originally designated as a car park, but had become a site for New Age Travellers who had turned onto the Pylle Road, thus blocking access to the site. No Police action was taken to prevent this occurrence. The Festival acted responsibly to restore the access routes to the site on the Public Highway, and the Mendip report acknowledges that this was imperative. When a Noise Abatement Notice has been breached the enforcing authority have the power to carry out works (ie confiscate equipment being used) to prevent reccurence of the breach, and it is customary for them to receive the support of the Police where necessary. The Mendip report states that the Police strongly advised the authority not to attempt this for reasons of public safety and potential public disorder. Festival Organisers are mystified as to what measures they could have realistically taken, and how the matter is considered to be under under the Festival's control. The body legally empowered to enforce abatement, and which has the combined resources of local government and the constabulary at its disposal, had assessed that there were significant risks to public safety in attempting to enforce compliance. The source of the noise was in an area intended for car-parking outside the festival site; the Mendip report praised the way in which Festival Organisers ensured and enforced compliance within the site. The travellers had been the cause of vociferous complaints to the local authority in previous years. Despite this they were not prevented by the authorities from driving onto the Pylle Road, and were then given access to the field by the Festival acting to fulfil their obligation to ensure access to the Festival site, aside from any humanitarian motivation. Mr Eavis has said that he will "strongly defend any claims of a breach." Responding to the decision to prosecute, Councillor John Gilham, the Deputy Leader of Mendip District Council, wrote in a letter to Mid-Somerset Newspapers : "I would like to challenge the scales of justice exercised by Mendip District Council in its relationship with Michael Eavis and the Glastonbury Festival.

The organiser creates an arts festival that is internationally famous in the entertainment world. Creates an arts festival that attracts more than 100,000 people to the Mendip area. Creates an arts festival that is broadcast on all TV channels and national radio giving publicity to Glastonbury and the Mendip area. This would cost hundreds of thousands of pounds if paid for by Mendip District Council Tourism Department. Donates considerable sums of money to national charities. Donates considerable sums of money to local organisations. Uses local voluntary organisations to carry out paid duties at the festival that sets them up for their philanthropic work for the next year. Creates hundreds of jobs for people. Creates a logistics system that deals with a minimum of 35,000 cars, catering for at least 100,000 people over four days and Health and Safety regulations normally associated with a city the size of Bath, etc. Builds a steel fence seven miles long to keep out the xtras attracted to the event. At a cost of £1.5 million proposes to build a seven-mile long fence of even greater proprtions to keep out intruders.

On the other side of the scales of justice the seven-mile fence is illegally breached and it is stated that the organiser exceeded sound levels which the organiser states were created by an illegal camp outside the festival site. Decision by Mendip Council ... prosecute. It's amazing to me that despite the ham-fisted handling by local councillors, events such as this survive. A decision as to whether Michael Eavis holds the event in 2001 is still awaited. After several prosecutions over the years and the apparent continuing hostility towards the festival, even the demise of the event must be on the cards." Mid-Somerset Newspapers, 28th December 2000.