Accessible Sanitation at Kilve Stock and Barrel Music Festival

Kilve Stock & Barrel takes over the cricket club again this August Bank Holiday: two days of live music, camping, beer and a village fundraiser attached. It also makes a decent worked example of what festival sanitation planning actually involves in Somerset.

Back at the cricket ground for 2026

The first Kilve Stock & Barrel ran on 31 August and 1 September 2024 at Kilve Cricket Ground, with live music, food, beer, camping, family entertainment and disabled facilities.

It came back in 2025 for a second year. Sophie Sefton, Sarah Parker Randle, No Fixed Abode, Jordan Lindsay and Dr & The Medics were among the reported performers.

The 2026 dates cover the August Bank Holiday weekend. Camping costs £20 a pitch, arrival opens on Friday 28 August, and the campsite has its own toilets.

A fundraiser first

Kilve Events Limited was incorporated on 16 April 2024, registered at Pardlestone Barton, Kilve. It is limited by guarantee with no share capital, which tells you where the money goes: Kilve Cricket Club, St Mary’s Church and Paws4Thought Somerset.

The cricket club has been part of village life since around 1860.

Work out the numbers before you book anything

The Purple Guide sets the benchmark most UK organisers work from:

• One toilet per 100 female attendees
• One toilet per 500 male attendees, plus one urinal per 150 men
• Accessible units sized on expected attendance and access needs
• Handwashing or sanitiser alongside every block

Run that against a hypothetical 800-person day with an even split. Four hundred women needs four toilets. Four hundred men needs one cubicle and three urinals. Organisers see that gap and assume the figures are wrong. They reflect how much longer queues build on the female side, and they explain why trimming female provision is the fastest way to ruin a Saturday night.

Duration, audience profile, alcohol, food, peak timings and site layout all move the final number. Start with the ratios, then add capacity for anything that keeps people on site longer.

Camping pushes demand round the clock

A campsite generates demand at 3am and again at 7am, well outside the headline set. Keep the campsite units within a short walk of the tents and separate from the arena provision, and the two areas stop competing at peak.

Accessible units: check the route, not only the cubicle

An accessible toilet works when someone can reach it. That means firm level ground, room to turn, lighting after dark and signage legible from a distance.

Sites shift during a festival. Mud appears, barriers get repositioned, vans park across desire lines, queues block the approach. Walk the route yourself on Saturday morning, then walk it again on Saturday night.

Where the Equality Act comes in

The Equality Act 2010 covers organisations providing services to the public, including reasonable adjustments for disabled people. Accessible toilets, usable routes, signage and lighting sit inside that duty.

Servicing across a two-day event

Nobody remembers a clean toilet. Everybody remembers a blocked one at midnight. Write the schedule before gates open:

• Scheduled inspections through operating hours
• Extra cleans timed to the bar peaks
• Restocking of paper and hygiene supplies
• A named person to call for blockages and damage
• Waste capacity checks
• Emptying arrangements covering the full weekend

The Purple Guide covers cleaning and emptying for prolonged events. Agree who owns each of those lines with your supplier, in writing, before the first van arrives.

Handwashing

Put handwashing or sanitiser beside every toilet block, and weight the provision towards the campsite and the food stalls. Hot wash units and showers are worth costing for weekend camping.

Toilets end up in the reviews

Almost every attendee uses them, which makes them one of the few things every review can comment on. Clean units, short queues and stocked supplies buy the goodwill a second-year festival runs on.

Planning a Somerset event this season

Start with headcount, duration, camping and site plan. Capacity, accessible provision, distribution and servicing all follow from those four numbers.

Burnham Portable Toilet Hire has supplied portable sanitation across Somerset and the South West since 1992: festivals, weddings, sporting venues, private events and longer-term serviced sites. The event range covers standard units, accessible units, urinals and hot wash facilities.

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Sources and guidance

• The Purple Guide – Sanitation
• HSE – Event Safety
• HSE – Managing an Event
• Somerset Council – Event Safety
• Bath and North East Somerset Council – Events Policy
• Avon and Somerset Police – Public Event Planning
• Equality Act 2010, and Section 29

Get In Touch

https://www.huntingdonshire.gov.uk/media/2746/hse-event-safety-guide.pdf https://www.thepurpleguide.co.uk/sanitation https://www.bathnes.gov.uk/policy-and-documents-library/events-policy https://app1.apply4.com/uploads/uk/instance_document/file/348/OUTDOOR_EVENTS_IN_BRISTOL-a_guide_for_event_organisers.pdf https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2010/15 https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2010/15/notes/division/3/16/19 https://www.iow.gov.uk/documentlibrary/download/public-health-pack-for-mass-events