Music festival organisers have had to withdraw its application for a licence after they could not attend meetings with the council.

Beachdown Festival was held for the first time this year at the Devil’s Dyke near Brighton and attracted more than 6,000 people.

It was the biggest music festival of its kind in the city and organisers were keen to get a licence for 2009.

They submitted their application to Brighton and Hove City Council last month but had to withdraw it after the father of the production director died suddenly. The man behind Beachdown, Joe Pidgeon, said: “It was an incredibly unfortunate case of a personal bereavement and Christmas.

“We had various meetings with the council that we had to attend otherwise it was likely the application would be rejected on the grounds that not enough information was available.

“When our production director, who meets with the emergency services to discuss what measures are in place to make Beachdown safe, lost his father we lost around ten days when we couldn’t have any meetings and it was difficult to rearrange them because the council is very busy at Christmas time.

“We all thought it would be better to withdraw it and reapply when the full team could attend all meetings.”

The application is expected to be resubmitted on January 5.

Last month The Argus reported how Beachdown was having severe cash flow problems and owed local businesses up to £30,000.

Mr Pidgeon said: “Those problems were solved when we got the VAT rebate we were owed. We have no money problems now and have just found out we’ve got a major new investor.”

The confirmed line-up for the event is expected to be released at the end of January.