Latitude Festival has issued a statement in response to the government’s announcement that planned easing of coronavirus restrictions will be delayed by four weeks.

Previously, all limits on social distancing and crowd capacities were due to be lifted on June 21, however Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced today (June 14) that this will now not take place until July 19 due to the spread of new COVID-19 variants.

With Latitude due to begin just three days later (July 22-25) the festival’s founder Melvin Benn has said the team is still weighing up whether it can take place as planned.

“We don’t think it means the end of our hopes for Latitude this year,” said the statement, which you can read in full below.

A @cinchuk presents Latitude 2021 update from Melvin…#Latitude2021 pic.twitter.com/hUudZylzyB

— Latitude Festival (@LatitudeFest) June 14, 2021

Benn wrote that “whilst this evening’s statement is disappointing, we haven’t given up hope just yet.

“If you’ll allow us just a little more time, we’re going to spend the next few days looking at the information and speaking to the relevant government departments to work out what it means for the festival.”

He added that he hopes to have a definite answer about whether Latitude will be going ahead by the end of this week.

“Our first priority is always the safety of our festival-goers, the staff and the artists. We’ll be working with the local and national authorities and will ensure that IF we aren’t able to go ahead by the end of this week, all ticketholders will be able to roll over their tickets to 2022 or be able to claim a refund.”

Earlier today, meanwhile, the Association of Independent Festivals (AIF) called for an urgent intervention from the government for festivals.

In May the AIF had issued a “red alert” and said it had hit a “brick wall” in talks with the government after a lack of festival insurance sparked the widespread cancellation of events this summer.

Meanwhile, bosses from some of England’s most beloved grassroots music venues have spoken of their fear and frustration, with approximately £36million set to be lost as a result of the easing of coronavirus restrictions being delayed by four weeks.