The director of Boardmasters has outlined changes to the festival following concerns over safety and disruptions in previous years.
Taking place over five days in Newquay, Cornwall, Boardmasters – which originated as a surfing competition in 1981 – attracts approximately 58,000 people with its annual offering of surfing, skating, and live music.
The festival, however, has previously run into some problems that it is keen to redress in future years. In 2024, for example, roads in the surrounding area were brought to a standstill in a disruption that director Rob Spring has now called “unacceptable”.
Speaking to BBC Radio Cornwall on Wednesday (24 June), Spring said that being a good neighbour was “critical” to the festival’s success as it looks to the future.
Responding to the traffic issues in 2024, festival organisers went back to the drawing board. “We tore up our traffic management plan… brought in locals… brought in the best specialists that we could find,” Spring said, noting that feedback the following year suggested that “the roads were as quiet as an out-of-season day”.
Also in 2024, a crowd surge left seven people needing hospital checks in an event that police called a “crowd collapse”. Organisers said those taken to hospital were treated for minor injuries before they were discharged. While the injuries sustained were not serious, festivalgoers described worrying scenes on site.
An independent report into the incident had been commissioned, according to Spring, who said he felt “saddened for anyone that was injured” at the event.
Recommendations were implemented for the 2025 festival, which he said was “commended” for its safety. “Boardmasters is safe,” concluded Spring.
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Spring’s comments follow after the festival announced in 2024 that it would be setting up more watchtowers, which would be manned 24/7 alongside a 50 per cent increase in high-visibility security patrols.
He noted that the next steps would be to support the local community, telling the BBC: “How do we actually get people to know that Newquay is open when Boardmasters is on?”
Spring also highlighted wider benefits, including a sum of more than £700,000 to be distributed through the Boardmasters Foundation.
He also spoke of his aspirations for the festival to showcase its surroundings more, stating that Boardmasters should be a “platform for Cornwall, for Cornish talent, for Cornish arts,, surfing”.
“I look forward to the thing that got me into this career, which is seeing 44,000 people come together to feel that sense of freedom, be in the moment, connect with each other and connect with the artists,” he said.
“We discount pitches for local businesses, for both at Watergate Bay and Fistral. We employ local production companies at Fistral but there’s more to do and that’s why we always say that we want to keep on speaking to the local community to see how we can be better neighbours, to see how actually the local community can benefit.”
Spring concluded: “I like to think that actually the payback to Newquay and the surrounding areas for putting up with us, and hopefully we’re good neighbours, is that we help support to put Newquay, Fistral Beach, Watergate Bay and Cornwall in a national and international spotlight.”
Boardmasters is due to return this August with artists including Lily Allen, Fatboy Slim, and Kasabian set to perform.