A MUSIC festival looks set to be cancelled after organisers withdrew their application for a licence.

The Party on Music Festival, at Barleylands Farm, in Billericay, was expected to attract 20,000 people.

Tickets for the event, due to take place on Saturday, April 30, and Sunday, May 1, went on sale last month.

Basildon Council has confirmed a licensing application for the festival has been withdrawn, amid concerns safety plans were not up to scratch.

At a hearing last month, applicant Roger Wilson was warned he faced a race against time to prepare an event management plan which was acceptable to police, councillors and environmental health officers.

Insp Neil Carman, of Basildon police, had warned a scheduled meeting on Friday, December 18 would be a “line in the sand” to determine whether the festival could go ahead.

Performers including Eighties favourites Boney M, Sister Sledge and Odyssey, and former X Factor contestants Stacey Solomon and Amelia Lily, had been listed as performers on the festival website.

Ticketmaster started selling tickets last month, but its website now states the event “no longer exists in our database."

Mr Wilson lodged the original licensing application while working for Three Nations Events, based in Newport, Wales.

The Echo understands he no longer works for the company.

A Basildon Council spokesman said: “The licensing sub-committee hearing listed for December 18 has been cancelled and an application for a music festival at Barleylands on the May Day weekend next year has been withdrawn.”

Organisers had applied for a licence to allow a maximum of 20,000 visitors a day on the site, with live music until 10.30pm and bars staying open until 2am.

At last month’s meeting, the 200-page event management plan submitted by Mr Wilson was criticised by police for being “too generic” and “not site-specific."

Officers asked for extra conditions to be imposed before the licence was granted.

Three Nations Events has been contacted by the Echo, but did not respond to requests for a comment.