After the festival each year, elected representatives receive a debrief on the event, as the festival requires a licence and permission from Reading Borough Council.
Councillors are routinely invited to the festival both to enjoy themselves and monitor the event.
During a recent debrief, councillor Glenn Dennis, the current mayor of Reading, stated he saw revellers openly advertising the sale of cocaine and Class A drugs to fellow crowd members.
Cllr Dennis (Labour, Kentwood) said: “They were absolutely advertising for drugs, I was in the crowd, and I saw them put up their little mobile phone with ‘you can get coke here’ on it.
“So there is dealing on that site, which I suppose we can expect, but we really do need to keep a close eye on that.”
Thames Valley Police reported a total of 39 arrests have been made at this year’s festival.
READ MORE: Police reveal the numbers of arrests made at Reading Festival 2024
Cllr Dennis reported the issue in a presentation on the 2024 festival prepared by council officers and presented by Catherine Lewis, a community protection manager.
She stated that she could not comment on drug enforcement.
Councillors also raised concerns about noise at later hours causing a disturbance for those living nearby.
The festival has undergone a series of changes since the coronavirus pandemic and the cancellation of the 2020 event.
From 2021-2023, the organisers Festival Republic introduced two main stages, with the Radio 1 Stage being replaced by the Main Stage West, which itself was replaced by the Chevron Stage.
READ MORE: Reading Festival announces major new stage for 2024
Organisers also put on film screenings in 2022 and 2023, which was not repeated this year.
Mrs Lewis said: “The show tends to finish at 11.30pm, but they can play music until midnight.
“Over the years the sound that may affect residents after midnight has reduced a lot, there was no cinema this year, they put a lot of effort into the silent disco which reduced that noise after midnight.
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“This year we did notice there were people within the campsite that had their own SONOS speakers which is very hard to control, I’ve already fed that back to Festival Republic, and they are going to try and make sure that the teams that work within the campsite are a bit more on top of it.”
She also said council officers did roaming sound checks to ensure noise levels are kept within limits, including at The Warren over the River Thames in Caversham.
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The debrief was conducted entirely from the perspective of council officers, represented by Mrs Lewis.
A full debrief from Festival Republic will be undertaken at the housing, neighbourhoods and leisure committee in March 2025.
Cllr Rachel Eden (Labour, Whitley) quipped that the committee would get ‘two bites of the cherry’ to scrutinise the event.