SPRING CLASSIC – Event Impact

Event and Organiser Background

We are Wavelength, best known for the heritage surf magazine, which has been in print since 1981. More recently, other credible events we have run include our drive-in cinema in North Cornwall, the Wavelength Surf Film Festival and the Blue Earth Summit in Bristol. 

We have been working closely with the National Trust, have the support of the Mortehoe parish council, and have been developing the concept with key members of the local surf and wider community. 

It is our aim that the event will be a fine celebration for the local community, as well as a good local economy injector. We are planning long term, and want to ensure that we are able to create a positive legacy.

With this there are many considerations across our event management plan, and we have summarised some of the key topics below.

Sustainability

By their very nature live events are never going to be perfect from an environmental perspective, but there are a few basic procedures that can be followed to mitigate as much as possible. There will be no single-use plastic at the festival, environmentally safe inks, minimal paper printed on site, use of local supply chain, reusable drinks cups, sustainably-minded traders and what we can’t avoid we will offset with a bonafide carbon offset programme.

In the spirit of our sister event, the Blue Earth Summit, we also plan to hold various sustainability talks and workshops on site to enable the event to be a relevant platform and educational resource on the subject for our visitors.

Charity Pledge

As part of the launch of the event, we have promised to pledge 1% of event ticket revenue to local charitable and community projects.

Local Environmental Impact

We have gone through extensive ecological impact assessments, and the event will be used to provide land regeneration revenues to the National Trust area. 

Traffic Management

We are aware that local traffic management is one of the key issues of the event, and we will be doing our best to  keep traffic impact to a minimum. Cars will be disincentivized to leave the site once parked, and we will be putting on a looping minibus service for people to be taken from the event site to Woolacombe town.

Park and ride options will be prioritised, with a local service provided from Barnstaple station. People will be incentivised to carpool and arrive by road and motor bike.

Woolacombe Down Wildlife

The Woolacombe Down is a fantastic area of biodiversity and an amazing natural habitat for a huge range of insects, animals, birdlife, flora, fauna and plants. This is something that we want to promote, nurture, share, enjoy and be proud of.

The full area of the site is 154 hectares and the festival site will be 7 hectares. We will be working closely with the National Trust to ensure that any event impact is minimised as much as possible. We will have key habitat areas roped off, and will also be being pro-active onsite with educational onsite activations such as guided nature trails and information sessions etc.

As a side attraction of the event we plan to organise motorbike ride outs, these will start from a parking site onsite, and then maze off on the local road network. There will NOT be motorbikes racing around the Woolacombe Down area.

Local Economic Impact

Having a festival of this nature will provide a significant local economic injection. As event organiser we are working with local service providers as much as possible to ensure that they benefit directly from the event, and we can also expect a broader economic and employment benefit within the Woolacombe Mortehoe Parish Council.

Broader Event Management Policy

As a broader policy across the whole event management, we are operating on the general below principles:

i) Minimisation of negative economic, social, cultural and environmental impacts; 

ii) Generation of greater economic benefits for local people and enhancement of the wellbeing of host communities; 

iii) Improvement in the working conditions of the festival environment and initiatives to generate further employment; 

iv) Inclusion of local people in decision making with respect to festival development; 

v) Support for diversity and contribution to conservation of wildlife as well as natural and cultural heritage;

vi) Creation of enjoyable experiences by enabling visitors to connect meaningfully with residents; 

vii) Provision of access for physically challenged people; and 

viii) Being culturally sensitive, encouraging respect between event-goers and hosts, building local pride and confidence. 

We will be holding forums with the local community for any residents to come along and hear our plans in person (in the event of restrictions, we would plan for these to be done online.) Keep in touch with the Mortehoe Parish Council about the dates and announcements.