Kite 2020 music festival granted licence in Kirtlington

A new music festival will be held in the grounds of an Oxfordshire stately home, a council has agreed.

Cherwell District Council's licensing sub-committee has granted the licence for Kite 2020 at Kirtlington Park.

Organisers said the event would include live music, film showings, plays, fair rides, and a "discussion of social, political and technological ideas".

It is expected to be held between 12 and 14 June, with a capacity for 5,000 people each day.

Kirtlington Parish Council had raised concerns over public safety, "potential public nuisance" and additional traffic.

However, the police, fire service, and environmental authorities raised no objections.

Kirtlington Park is Grade II listed and its gardens were laid out by Capability Brown in the 1750s, following work the decade before by the then Royal Gardener, Thomas Greening.

U-Live, which is organising the event, said "a mixture of national and international speakers and musicians" would perform on two main stages, potentially until 02:00 each day.

U-Live is owned by Universal Music and runs the Nocturne concerts at Blenheim Palace in West Oxfordshire.