Tramlines Festival: Sheffield music festival to continue in Hillsborough Park after council approval

Tramlines Festival will continue to be hosted in Hillsborough Park, despite the grass being turned to mud during wet weather in 2023.

Sheffield City Council this week gave approval for the popular festival to be held at the city park for the next five years.

After a council review into the licence agreement for Tramlines, prompted after last year's heavy rainfall, approval to enter into a revised licence agreement was given by the Charity Trustee sub-committee on March 4.

Councillor Ian Auckland, chair of the sub-committee, said: "Tramlines Festival bring enormous benefits to the city and is enjoyed and celebrated by many.

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"However, it is crucial that we protect our parks and it’s great to see that we have revised our licence agreement to reflect this. We want Hillsborough Park to be enjoyed by everyone for many years to come. Whether that is by festival-goers, or the local people who use the park every other day of the year."

As part of the new agreement, £10,000 of the annual Tramlines fee will be used to improve, replace or install equipment and facilities to advance the park. In the committee meeting, it was stressed how the money should be used to make improvements to the area and not for routine maintenance, so locals and park users could see the benefit of hosting the festival in Hillsborough.

The agreement also set expectations of how the park will be protected from damage and how decisions around cancelling the event will be taken.

In a statement, the council also said Hillsborough Park was the only one in Sheffield with the capacity to host Tramlines, adding if it was not there, it would "move out of the city all together".

Tramlines is one of the UK's longest-running, city-based music festivals and a highlight in Sheffield's yearly events calendar.

The festival moved to Hillsborough Park in 2018, when the initial license agreement was granted, having previously been in the city centre.