“PEDANTIC” councillors have pulled the plug on a popular south Warwickshire music event.
Stratford District Council has refused a licence for Shipston Proms’ Ibiza on Stour event, which was set to take place on the field at The Hub during the music festival running from June 16 to July 4.
Members of SDC’s licensing panel felt that despite the event attracting over 1,000 music-lovers and receiving the backing of local councillors and Stratford MP Manuela Perteghella, the location was unsuitable for an outdoor music event as it is too close to residential properties.
The Proms committee and a number of residents in Shipston feel this is a bad decision.
Proms spokesperson Josie Kemp said: “It values process over community. This rigid adherence to guidelines is pedantic in the extreme and fails to take into account the bigger picture. In 2025 there was one complaint and 1,125 delighted concert goers.
“The closest properties are on a development where the residents association carries out an annual survey, and not a single complaint has ever been received.
“The Proms committee feel that this decision is a sledgehammer to crack a very small nut. Also, there is no consistency here. The Last Night of the Proms is a brilliant, bigger event that takes place in the town square where people live, and yet that’s been deemed acceptable for 27 years, and will be going ahead again this year.
Josie continued that the decision not to allow the Ibiza on Stour event was a blow to the community.
She added: “The people of Shipston have lost something valuable. The Shipston economy has been damaged as The Hub and other contractors will lose business. Local DJ’s caterers, event managers, security and bar suppliers, local pubs, restaurants, and retail outlets will lose business.”
The Proms committee is now searching for an alternative location big enough to host the event.
A spokesperson for SDC said the event had previously taken place without the appropriate licence and to address this, an application was submitted to the Licensing Authority this year to regularise the event under the Licensing Act 2003.
The spokesperson added that complaints had been received in 2024 regarding dispersal, and in 2025 relating to noise, dispersal arrangements and inadequate parking and therefore the panel decided to refuse the licence.
