Covid: Wales' festivals 'disadvantaged' by no lockdown end date

Wales' festivals could be "left behind" if no date is given for ending Covid restrictions, organisers of the Royal Welsh Show have said.

England has a target of 19 July and Scotland plans to lift remaining legal restrictions on 9 August, but no date has been given in Wales.

Steve Hughson said Wales' "cautious approach" was now becoming untenable.

Economy Minister Vaughan Gething said ministers would not "blow the doors off" to lift rules at the same time.

There have only been minor changes to Covid rules in Wales since the start of June, after First Minister Mark Drakeford announced a pause in order to "reduce the peak number of daily hospital admissions" and allow time to vaccinate more people.

Since 7 June, large outdoor events, such as concerts, football matches and organised runs, have been able to go ahead for crowds of up to 4,000 people standing or 10,000 people sitting down.

Organisers must undertake full risk assessments and put in place measures to prevent the spread of coronavirus, including social distancing.

The 2021 Royal Welsh Show is being held virtually for a second year, but organisers hope it will return to Llanelwedd near Builth Wells in Powys in 2022.

Mr Hughson, chief executive of the Royal Welsh Agricultural Society, said: "The differences across the border are causing frustration, commercial disadvantage and confusion with people coming across the border.

"We need Welsh government to take a long hard look and there is a lot of pressure for them to do something in the next weeks and months to align.

"There's a fear that Wales will be left behind, or left on its own.

"I congratulate Welsh government for its cautious approach and vaccine rollout, which has left it with some of the best numbers in the UK, but that cautious approach is now becoming untenable.

"We can no longer rely on this when England and Scotland are open for business."

Joe Worley is the co-founder of Westival festival near Manobier in Pembrokeshire.

The 2021 event had been planned from 22-26 July, but has been moved to 2022.

He said: "They've said festivals can go ahead if they're socially distanced, but what's been frustrating is the lack of advice and guidance on how to actually do that."

The planned restriction end dates in England and Scotland have left him with mixed emotions: "Obviously I'm really, really happy that those things [festivals in England and Scotland] are going to go ahead, it means that a lot of people do get like a festival kind of summer, but I guess it is frustrating to see that we've kind of not followed suit.

"We've vaccinated more people than anyone else in the UK so it seems like we should be ahead of England, if anything."

Em Weirdigan is festival director of Green Gathering near Chepstow in Monmouthshire, which has been postponed to August 2022.

She said: "We're hugely disappointed but we don't blame the Welsh government for focusing more heavily on health than economics and we understand the regulations are designed to keep people in Wales safe."

She said it was a "shame there wasn't scope for flexibility", adding: "We had plans to run what we believe would have been a safe festival, with outdoor stages on a site renowned for its wide open spaces.

"We won't be defeated and will return to Chepstow."

Joseph Fort is the co-artistic director of October's Cowbridge Music Festival in the Vale of Glamorgan.

He said they had planned for three different scenarios - 2m social distancing, 1m social distancing and no restrictions.

If distancing is in place, they plan to run each event twice.

He said planning had been "tricky" but they had received a lot of support: "The British Association of Festivals have been really helpful and the key thing we've done is talk to everybody else doing other festivals - everybody seems to be taking different gambles, but we're all looking at what each other are doing and talking to each other a lot."

He does not think having a lockdown end date in Wales would have helped: "I think that the English guidelines kind of give the illusion of security... we may have to have further lockdown in the autumn.

"In October, wherever the festival was, there are just still so many unknowns that we don't just don't really know."

But head of Wales at the Federation of Small Businesses Ben Cottam said it was really important "that the first minister now comes up with a timeline".

"Welsh government has to move on the public health data that it has available, but it is really important that businesses have a time scale to plan to," he added.

The UK government's Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng said he agreed with Mr Cottam, adding: "I think if Wales is considerably out of step with the rest of the UK, people in Wales will want to know what the what the reasoning is behind that."

He also acknowledged it was a devolved matter and "up to the Welsh government".

Welsh Economy Minister Vaughan Gething told the Senedd decisions would be driven by data.

On calls to end social distancing to help businesses, Mr Gething said: "I am optimistic about the choices that we will get to make.

"But we do so in a manner that is responsible, and not driven by demands to simply blow the doors off and allow everything to happen at the same time, as in other parts of the United Kingdom."

A Welsh government spokesman said: "Decisions on the way forward on any further relaxation of restrictions on events will be taken as part of the regular 21-day review process.

"The onus is on the event organiser, in this instance the director, to undertake a full risk assessment and put in place any necessary mitigations."