HUNDREDS of young people attended a music festival in Stanford-le-Hope this afternoon and evening (Saturday, 10 September) which only happened after a protracted battle between its organisers and Thurrock Council.

In particular Stanford West councillors Shane Hebb and Terry Piccolo fought tooth and nail to stop the event and managed to get it reduced in size.

But the locally-based Red Room Records team behind the venture were determined to go ahead and today the inaugural event happened. And this evening, as the music hit its last beat around 10.30pm they said they are already planning another event next year.

Thurrock Nub News has followed the history of the event with a series of stories over recent months, including the original protest led by Cllr Hebb which saw the council's licencing committee asked to veto approval - which had already been given in principle as the council had rented the site at the Billet playing fields to Red Room.

Lewis Graham, left, and members of the backstage team.

Despite impassioned pleas from the team at Stanford-based Red Room, the licencing committee refuse to sanction the event.

That was far from the end of the story. Less than 24 hours after the decision, organiser Lewis Graham from Red Room and Kacy White, the production manager from White's Sound And Lighting, met with management at the Crooked Billet and  announced an event would still take place – albeit on a smaller scale.

Mr Graham told Nub News at the time: "It will be smaller in scale and we clearly will not have the space to do everything we initially wanted, including having three sound stages, but the pub and its function room and the curtilage of the pub and car park together gives us an opportunity."

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However, the council bit back again and despite having granted all the requite temporary licences asked for by the organisers, the authority renaged on a previous agreement to let Red Room use part of the Billet Field.

A second rethink showed the determination of Mr Lewis and his team and they replanned, using just the Crooked Billet, its garden and its car park. 

The stage as the last tunes were played to the enthusiasts who stayed till the last beat.

And today those plans bore fruit.

Mr Graham said: " Despite everything we were able to start at midday and we have had a fantastic day. We have had lots of people here, we haven't had any major issues and it would appear that all our careful planning and the security we put in place has worked.

"It's hard to see why there was so much opposition to people enjoying themselves in a properly regulated and managed way, but that's the way it was. Despite all that we can claim today has been a big success and it's our intention to be back next year."