A PLANNED music festival in Queens Park has been banned by town hall chiefs amid fears over safety.

Bolton Love Music Hate Racism was organising the all-day music event for May 31 and had been working with Bolton Council since last November.

They had already secured funding, including £10,000 from the Big Lottery Fund.

The group, an offshoot of the national Love Music Hate Racism (LMHR) group, has been in talks with top acts including The Bluetones and Dan Le Sac vs Scroobius Pip about headlining the event.

But now town hall chiefs have put stop to it, leaving organisers “gutted”.

One of them, Chris Evans, said: “I am very disappointed, really gutted. Several people have worked very hard trying to organise this and it is ridiculous that the council will not allow it to go ahead.

“We wanted to put something on that Bolton could be proud of and an event which represents the town’s broad range of communities.”

Mr Evans also accused Greater Manchester Police, who had quoted nearly £17,000 to police the event, of trying to recoup costs incurred at last month’s English Defence League rally. He said: “There has been no trouble at LMHR events and it seems to us the police are trying to claw back the costs of the EDL rally.”

Chief Supt Steve Hartley, Bolton divisional commander, said: “This event appeared to have been a long time in planning but we were only consulted at a very late stage. For large events such as this, we need to be involved as early as possible so we can ensure the safety of the people attending the event and the local residents and visitors to Bolton.

“To police events like this, we will bring in extra officers who we have to pay at the regulated amount, which will increase the costs.

“The cost quoted for policing this festival was in no way linked to costs incurred during any other operation, including the recent EDL protest in Bolton.

“Should the organisers wish to hold the festival in Bolton at some time in the future, provided we are given sufficient notice, we would be happy to work with their planning team to facilitate the event.”

A council spokesman said: “Ward members expressed concern about such a large event at this time. Police were also concerned that the event organisers had failed to consider Home Office guidance and had made claims that the emergency services had been fully involved with the planning process, which was not the case.”