E01 CEN

March 15, 2007

Mid Somerset Series

Page 31

News

Bassey is keen to play Glastonbury

An approach by Shirley Basseys management was well-timed, according to Mr Eavis, as two planned acts Smokey Robinson and Tom Petty have been unable to make the festival dates. There had been hopes that the singer from Cardiffs Tiger Bay, who recently celebrated her 70th birthday, could play on the main stage at around 5pm on Sunday, June 24, but it is now looking less likely . Mr Eavis said: Shirley Basseys management has been on the phone. They approached us asking if there was a vacancy, and we are still discussing every day what may or may not be possible, but Im not sure it is hopeful since we only have about halfan-hour free. He confirmed that changes were under way in arrangements for the Pilton Party, with two events, three weeks apart, at different venues. A small-scale Pilton Party will take place on Friday, August 31, with just 500 tickets, as part of

Singing legend Shirley Bassey is keen to play the Glastonbury Festival, organiser Michael Eavis has confirmed, but it is proving hard to squeeze her into a crowded schedule on the final evening.

By Craig Hares
the villages traditional show, which Glastonbury Festival is supporting with donations of 15,000. Three weeks later, on Friday September 21, the Pilton Equinox Party will be staged at Steanbow Farm, which is next to Mr Eaviss own Worthy Farm. Mr Eavis said that with the Glastonbury Festival being timed close to the summer solstice, an autumn equinox event was appropriate, while a change of venue was needed as the village playing field could not take the numbers keen to come. The band Massive Attack have yet to be confirmed as headliners, and Mr Eavis said the new venue would mean less noise and traffic disturbance for Pilton. For the Glastonbury Festival in June, there are plans to install a temporary footbridge at Castle Cary station to help local commuters who have to park in a field and walk to the station while the car park is used for festival buses. Mr Eavis said: It is dangerous for commuters to walk along that road so we hope we can build a bridge to take them off the road.

Will they, wont they? Shirley Bassey is keen to play Glastonburys main stage on June 24, while Massive Attack have yet to be confirmed for the new Pilton Equinox Party on September 21 The festival hopes its new sales system, allowing people to buy up to four tickets, will encourage more families and friends to come together, reducing the number driving to the site by 7,000. Having made many changes to ticketing in recent years, Mr Eavis is keen to try another option, with a lottery for tickets, as has happened for sporting events, but he admits his team is opposed to the suggestion: I like the idea myself, but my team are all against it.

No political divide in merge fight

Civic leaders from across the political divide joined forces yesterday to invoke the spirit of Somersets ill-fated Pitchfork Rebellion to save the countys five district councils. Council leaders, trades unionists and council chief executives chose to arm themselves with a dossier of evidence, instead of the armoury of the 1685 battle, as they stepped up their campaign to defeat Somerset County Councils plans to abolish local district councils. Representatives from Mendip, Sedgemoor, South Somerset, Taunton Deane and West Somerset councils met local MPs and delivered a dossier of evidence against the county councils proposals to Ruth Kelly, the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government. The county councils proposals follow a decision by the Department for Communities and Local Government to explore the development of more unitary authorities around the country . The government favours unitary authorities, but only where they save money and have popular support. Neither of these criteria apply in the case of Somerset, say the district councils who also point out that a similar proposal was rejected in the 1990s. Somerset County Council has put forward proposals that would see the abolition of Somersets five district councils and the creation of a unitary council based in Taunton. Leaders from all the district councils say the county councils plans would create a new tier of red tape and bureaucracy, far removed from the citizens of Somerset. Their joint statement reads: Instead of local representation, we would have distant representation. A single Somerset unitary authority would be vast and remote. It would be one of the biggest local authorities in England, with each councillor serving thousands and thousands of electors. Theres no way local councillors could ever get to know their constituents or the local issues that were most important to them. A single unitary authority for Somerset would be bad for local democracy, bad for local services and bad for the local economy It cannot . be allowed to happen. Cllr Ken Maddock is leader of Mendip District Council and fears the proposed unitary authority would concentrate on the main centres of population such as Taunton, Bridgwater and Yeovil. Glastonbury, Shepton Mallet, Street and Wells would get scant consideration after them, he said. They would have to survive on any crumbs that might be left over after the larger centres had been satisfied. Nigel Osborne from the local government union UNISON said: My real fear is that a single supersize council in Somerset would have no alternative but to cut council services as it fought to pay the huge costs of becoming a unitary authority, he said. Yesterdays delegation travelled from Westminster to the Department for Communities and Local Government in an open-top bus provided by Cheddar Caves and Gorge, and were met at Westminster by members of the Sealed Knot, invoking in a light hearted way, according to Mendip District Council spokesman Menna Davies, the spirit of The Pitchfork Rebellion of 1685. The rebellion, which was led by the Duke of Monmouth and supported by Somersets farmers and peasants was, in some senses, the first battle for democratic rights in Somerset, she said.