Central Coast music festival cancelled

Mountain Sounds Festival organisers have been accused of supplying police with incorrect information ahead of the event's cancellation.

Organisers of a NSW music festival provided authorities with inaccurate information prior to its cancellation, NSW Police say.

Mountain Sounds Festival was due to be held on the Central Coast next weekend, but organisers on Saturday announced it wouldn't be going ahead due to "excessive costs, additional licensing conditions and the enforcement of a stricter timeline".

In a lengthy post on the Mountain Sounds Facebook page, organisers blamed the government's "war on festivals" for the cancellation.

Thousands of people shared the post, with many responding to the cancellation with frustration and a number of angry comments directed at the NSW Government.

Organisers wrote they had agreed to downsize their site and cancel more than 20 acts to make sure they met newly-imposed safety, licensing and security costs.

However, they were then told they would have to pay an extra $200,000 for 45 police officers.

"This came one week out from the festival and blindsided us as we were quoted for 11 user pay police on the 18th of January," they said.

But NSW Police said the information originally provided "did not accurately reflect the number of expected attendees and revealed numerous breaches".

AAP understands in one meeting with authorities in late January, organisers advised they were likely to cancel the event as it was not financially viable.

But organisers changed their view subsequently and said the festival would go ahead with 8000 attendees, which was significantly more than the "few thousand" people previously advised to police.

It's the second NSW music festival to be cancelled in a week, and comes after publicity surrounding festival drug use and deaths.

Organisers of Mountain Sounds Festival has been contacted for comment.


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Source: AAP



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