THE organisers of a controversial music festival have defended the event, but said they will find a new location for next year.

The Small Trees Festival was held in a field opposite Trawden Recreation Ground, on Friday and Saturday nights and attracted comp-laints of noise nuisance.

A number of residents living near the site complained about noise pollution from the drum 'n' bass tent.

However, the organisers said they did everything they could to rectify the situation and worked closely with environmental health officers and the police.

Stuart Payne, who was involved in the organising of the festival and helped sponsor it, said: “Due diligence was done and everything was done by the book.

“We worked closely with police and environmental health, who attended the event.

"They were fantastic and helped us to rectify the situation.

“As far as I am aware we didn’t receive a single complaint about noise on the Saturday.

"We identified the problem as bass noise from a tent and realigned the speakers early on Saturday morning, which seemed to work.”

Mr Payne said the festival had followed all the correct procedures, with licences for alcohol and food and hygiene certificates.

He said: “All drinks were served in plastic glasses and any glass found that might have been sneaked in was soon cleared up.

"We had one incident where somebody had too much to drink and the ambulance service attended that, and praised our plan for dealing with such eventualities.

“There was only one other incident of trouble where a local Trawden teenager picked up a chair and threatened to hit a security guard with it.

"That was quickly dealt with and three people were ejected from the site.”

Mr Payne said fully qualified and registered security guards were employed at the site alongside volunteers.

He said: “We welcome feedback from residents and we are conscious of the community’s right to peace and quiet, so we won’t be using that site again.

"We will look for a more isolated site next year.”