A review into Boardmasters’ licence was dropped at the last minute, meaning Cornwall’s biggest festival lives to party on next year.

The review hearing was due to be heard on Wednesday, September 17 but the council announced the day before that it had been cancelled after a member of the public withdrew their licensing complaint.

The meeting was due to take place following concerns about it hosting controversial duo Bob Vylan as part of the main stage line-up last month. Hundreds of people wrote to Cornwall councillors demanding that the authority intervened to ban the band from appearing at the 58,000-capacity Watergate Bay festival last month – something it wasn’t in local politicians’ power to do.

The rap-punk band were hit by a backlash after chanting “death, death to the IDF [Israel Defence Forces]” during a BBC televised appearance at the Glastonbury festival in June. The band are now facing fresh controversy after seemingly rejoicing in last week’s murder of American right-wing activist Charlie Kirk while they were onstage in the Netherlands.

It was announced that Cornwall Council would hold a licensing hearing after a member of the public wrote to the authority on July 16 demanding a review of the festival in light of the band’s appearance. However, due to legal timeframes the hearing was unable to be held until after the festival took place and Bob Vylan appeared on the main stage on Sunday, August 10.

The application came from Andrea Lovett, who wrote to the council: “The inclusion of the musical act Bob Vylan in the Boardmasters Festival 2025 line-up undermines the licensing objectives of the Licensing Act 2003. Bob Vylan’s performance at Glastonbury Festival on 28 June 2025 included inflammatory statements, specifically a chant of “death, death to the IDF”, which is under criminal investigation by Avon and Somerset Police for potential breaches of public order and hate crime legislation.

“Boardmasters Festival has a history of safety and crowd management challenges, notably in 2024 when a crowd surge resulted in seven hospitalisations, and a Cornwall Council health and safety officer raised ‘serious concerns’ about crowd management, traffic and welfare facilities being ‘overwhelmed’. The inclusion of an act under investigation for inflammatory conduct heightens these risks, potentially exacerbating tensions or disorder among the festival’s attendees.”

Before withdrawing her application, Ms Lovett wrote that she believed their appearance could provoke unrest with the potential for crowd disorder and disruption. Their appearance went ahead with no crowd problems at all, with many holding Palestine flags in solidarity with Bob Vylan.

A spokesperson for Boardmasters said: “We can confirm that the licence review application concerning Bob Vylan has now been withdrawn, bringing the matter to a close. We’re grateful for the constructive dialogue throughout this process and remain committed to balancing the opportunity to provide a platform for artists with our responsibility to protect the licensing objectives that ensure our events are safe, inclusive and positive experiences for all.”

Ms Lovett said of her decision to withdraw her application: “My sole intention in raising the matter was to address concerns regarding the inclusion of the act, Bob Vylan, in the festival’s 2025 line-up. My focus was narrowly on the aforementioned act. I therefore have no desire in pursuing a licence review for 2026.”