A MAJOR ROW has broken out between the organisers of music festival Jamstand and licensing officers of Herefordshire Council and West Mercia Police, after it was announced on Tuesday that the event would be illegal if it went ahead.

Launched in 2007, the annual Ross event has grown in popularity, and this year's Jamstand on August 13th and 14th was to have been the biggest yet. Three stages and big-name headline acts such as rapper Roots Manuva and hip-hop group Ugly Duckling were expected to draw as many as 5,000 people.

But the ambitious festival now looks certain to be cancelled, because its organiser, according to Herefordshire Council, failed to submit the necessary application for a licence.

Paul Nicholas, Assistant Director of Public Health for Herefordshire Council, said: "Not only does the event not have a licence, but the organiser has not obtained permission from their owners, Herefordshire Council and Ross Town Council respectively, to use Caroline Symonds Gardens and the bandstand.