Splendour In The Grass & Falls Festival venue secures trial extension

It's been a topic that has drawn worry from many festivalgoers for a number of months now, but today has seen confirmation that both Splendour In The Grass and Falls Festival are going to be held at the North Byron Parklands, at least for the next few years.

Back in July, it was revealed that the very future of Splendour In The Grass was hanging in the balance, with a review needed to see if the festival could be held there in the future.

See, Splendour In The Grass had moved to the North Byron Parklands previously under a trial agreement with the NSW Planning and Assessment Commission. However, with the completion of the 2017 event, it was revealed that the trial period was up.

Many aspects of the festival's had to be considered, especially in terms of patron safety, and the impact that a festival of that size would have on the local environment.

Today, in an announcement titled "The shows will go on," the North Byron Parklands have made it clear that Splendour In The Grass, and the Byron edition of Falls Festival, are to be held in the location for the next 20 months.

"North Byron Parklands is thrilled to confirm that it has been granted a 20-month extension to its 5-year trial," the statement began. "The independent Planning Assessment Commission have today approved the extension to the trial that was issued to the venue back in 2012. The trial period for the venue was to end on December 31, 2017.

"This approval now means that the Byron leg of the Falls Music and Arts Festival 2017/2018 (which had been sold ‘subject to regulatory approval’), Splendour in the Grass 2018, Falls 2018/2019 and Splendour 2019 will go ahead at North Byron Parklands."

The statement also continued by saying that the North Byron Parklands were now in the process of organising a final application which could see the venue be known as the permanent home to these festivals.

Mat Morris, General Manager of the North Byron Parklands also expressed his happiness with the result. “I’m also very excited to announce that a substantial land swap has now been formalised as part of this modification approval," he said. "This will see approximately 25 hectares of ecologically significant land added to the Billinudgel Nature Reserve. We now look forward to finalising our plans to become a permanent, world class sustainable venue.”