although I doubt you could salvage this event in Suffolk and what I suggest might burn your bridges here (for holding events) and even bring your personal life into scrutiny from the Police, I would suggest you make a formal written complaint to the Council asking
* why they did not say up front the extra licensing conditions were needed
* why so much time elapsed before they called the meeting which they could have said up front
* why the security costs are as much as £20 000
* what the exact risks and issues are that warrant such a large security presence
and maybe even contact Archant (the local press) to spur on the discussion.
if the authorities are citing incidents at events in other areas as a reason for greater security you still have a right to get them to discuss this fully and frankly.
Also if they do not respond in time to any request or deliberately use bureaucracy to stop an event happening rather than refuse it outright its maladministration.
I can understand why the wider community consider unlicensed music events to be unsafe and unfair on landowners – but at the same time doing this is stupid – they’ve removed a source of income to a local venue and a local community, created a situation where there is more risk of young drivers going greater distances (EA is large enough as it is).
at the very least the councillors should have the balls to stand up and say “we do not feel these events are appropriate for our area” at the start rather than add last minute conditions.
