Boardmasters Shares Enhanced Safety Measures

With less than a week to go until Boardmasters 2025, the organising team have revealed details of a reimagined festival experience as well as a wealth of improvements to safety.

The Boardmasters team have worked closely with authority partners, Cornwall Council, Devon and Cornwall Police and the South Western Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust over the last year to develop a robust plan for the festival that prioritises public safety. The multi-agency collaboration, that takes place annually in preparation for the festival, has been bolstered in 2025. There have been working sub-groups split across Coastal Safety, Traffic, Security, Safeguarding, Health and Safety, Local Infrastructure as well as Medical and Emergency Planning.

Alongside the improvements in safety, the entire festival experience at Boardmasters has been reimagined in 2025, with a renewed focus on celebrating the cultural heritage of the festival, which began in 1981. Alongside the Watergate Bay music site being re-designed with more intention, a refined layout, enhanced flow, and more spaces to explore and connect with what Boardmasters is really about, the festival offering is expanding beyond music. There will be talks, entertainment, workshops and strengthened wellness offerings onsite. Boardmasters is reviving a major part of the festival’s legacy by bringing back the much-loved skate ramp to Headland and at Fistral Beach, the home of the surf competition, the Boardmasters OPEN surf competition returns.

Safety Improvements

Safety is a priority to Boardmasters and the team have implemented a number of enhancements for 2025 following their own proactive review into last year’s event. Enhancements for this year include improvements to artist scheduling, infrastructure layout, staffing deployment, public signage and medical and welfare

provisions. Boardmasters have assembled a strong event management team including security, safety and crowd management specialists with a wealth of experience gained working at festivals all over the world.

Boardmasters have boosted their 24/7 security coverage across campsites, there will be more high-vis patrols day and night, faster entry with more search lanes to keep queues moving, 24 hour support, more information, and a more connected experience at campsite hubs plus new free Wi-Fi zones across the site. Oxfam Stewards will return to the festival in 2025 as will the Welfare Team + SARSAS - providing confidential and specialist support, no matter what someone is dealing with, including those affected by harassment, sexual assault, or domestic violence. The main arena and campsite medical points are staffed 24 hours a day by A&E doctors, nurses, paramedics and more. These medical professionals aim to treat most things at the festival to ease pressure on local services.

There are extensive resources and services at the festival focused solely on the safety and well-being of Boardmasters customers. These include: 24hr Static and Roaming Security, 24hr Hospital level Medical Care, 24hr Dedicated Welfare provision including mental health practitioners, safeguarding professionals and medical clinicians, 24hr Dedicated SARSAS team offering support in Sexual Assault / domestic abuse incidents both in live time and historic cases and 9x24hr staffed campsite hubs, as a point of contact into the festival management to access these services.

Reimagined Festival Experience

The Boardmasters team have invested in new creative staging, introduced exciting additions across the site map, and reconfigured spaces to offer a more immersive and explorative journey. From the moment festival-goers arrive, they should feel like they are stepping into something fresh, dynamic, and uniquely Boardmasters. This includes brand-new stages and reimagined areas that celebrate creativity and discovery, as well as upgraded amenities across the board. Boardmasters is also introducing more premium experiences such as new destination dining concepts, an evolved campsite village and central hub to cater to the growing demand for elevated festival offerings without losing the essence of our coastal, carefree spirit.

Andrew Topham, Founder and CEO of Boardmasters said: "Boardmasters remain saddened by the isolated incident in 2024. Delivering a safe and well-organised festival is our highest priority, and we are proud of the rigorous months of planning, sub-groups and close collaboration between Boardmasters, Devon and Cornwall Police, Cornwall Council and our other authority partners to ensure that this year’s event meets the highest standards. Boardmasters are grateful for the ongoing support and cooperation of our authority partners.”

Superintendent Ben Asprey from Devon and Cornwall Police says: "We are committed to ensuring that everyone attending the festival can enjoy themselves in a safe and secure environment. We have worked collaboratively with Boardmasters and a number of partner agencies in order to prioritise public safety. We welcome the improvements made and are confident they will support the safety and wellbeing of all festivalgoers.”

Boardmasters Safeguarding lead, Dawn Grant adds: "Boardmasters put in months of planning to prioritise creating a safe, supportive environment where all young people can enjoy the festival confidently. We understand that some younger customers chose Boardmasters as their first festival and we want their experience to be a positive one. We have a robust safeguarding framework in place at the festival, including a welfare team with extensive experience of supporting young people and a dedicated safeguarding team consisting of trained safeguarding officers accessible via any service on-site. We are committed to responding swiftly and seriously to any issues raised and to continuously improving our approach to safeguarding. We take our duty of care seriously and proactively share information directly with young people through school tours and with parents and guardians via industry-leading webinars."

Ashley Mann, Operations Manager for Cornwall & Isles of Scilly at the South Western Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust, says: "Public safety is our top priority, and we’re proud to be working closely with Boardmasters organisers, Devon and Cornwall Police, Cornwall Council and other authority partners to deliver a well-coordinated response plan. These enhanced safety measures mean our crews will be ready to respond quickly and effectively should the need arise, ensuring a safe and enjoyable experience for everyone attending.”

Joshua Jones, Newquay Station Manager at Cornwall Fire & Rescue Service says: "We have been working closely with Boardmasters organisers to ensure that appropriate fire safety measures are in place. The event has a good track record for fire safety, and we will be actively involved throughout, working alongside their firefighting team. Our presence will help ensure we are fully prepared to respond swiftly and effectively to any fire emergencies that may arise."

Boardmasters 2025 will take place from 6^th-10^th August and is expected to welcome thousands of attendees over the course of the five days. For further information about the event, including travel advice and safety guidelines, please visit the official festival website and social media channels.