The festival was canceled an hour before it was due to start today. This happened after the municipality withdrew the permit for the tent on the site, because the environmental agency had issued a negative advice about the construction.
In the original plans, another tent would be located in the same location, but later the organization changed those plans or chose this tent. According to the Environment Agency, the organization did not provide certain information about the tent, which meant that they could not provide a proper assessment of the safety of the construction.
The organization was informed at 10 a.m. this morning that the permit had been revoked. The festival would start at 12 noon. The organization immediately filed summary proceedings against the municipality’s decision. The session, which was organized via teams, started this afternoon at 2 p.m.
“This is the death knell for us,” said a white-hot Marnix Bal, the festival’s organizer, who is also behind Loveland. “I have never experienced this in thirty years. Never, never, never. In thirty years of Loveland we have never built anything wrong. After thirty years of good service, I cannot follow this.”
The judge who had to rule today says that for now they only look at the mayor’s decision. The judge stated that the decision was made on the right grounds and therefore ruled in favor of the municipality.
