In the past protest sites have been allowed at the gathering for no fee and those running the stall have been allowed in for free. This year the two people running the stall have been charged the full entrance fee of £95 per person plus an additional £10.

Protest sites are obviously completely non profit organisations and rely on funds from donations and people raising money from benefit gigs.

Those living on protest sites make a choice to live outside all year to defend the natural environment. Some people have lived at Nine Ladies for over 5 years.

Even though protest sites benefit from publicity gained at the Green Gathering we think that the BGG could afford to welcome them without charge as they have done in the past.

This policy has already put some people off from attending this years event which will already have cost the organisers more than they will gain from charging the site.