Neighbours warn Nibe Festival expansion could transform forest

Neighbours fear that Nibe Festival’s planned expansion could turn Skalskoven forest into a permanent festival site, DR reports. The festival expects around 20,000 visitors a day next summer and is proposing new roads and paths, space for additional stages and expanded parking and camping facilities.

The festival, once known as “Den lille fede”, has sold out repeatedly in record time. It is now seeking to future-proof its operations, with plans to use areas east of Skalskoven and north of Aalborgvej for festival activities.

Conny Nielsen, a neighbour of Skalskoven and co-founder of the Association for the Preservation of Skalskoven, said the forest is already under pressure from the event.

“If you look at the forest floor, it is destroyed in the places where the festival has been held. It will only be put under further strain. It cannot cope with it,” she said.

Skalskoven is used daily by runners, dog walkers and families with children, Nielsen said. She warned that new roads and heavy traffic could change the character of the forest.

“If Nibe Festival is to develop the forest, it will suddenly no longer be a Skalskoven forest, but a Nibe Festival forest,” she said.

Festival spokesperson Peter Møller Madsen rejected concerns that the expansion would harm nature. He said the purpose was not to make the festival larger, but to move heavy traffic and parking away from the town and residential areas.

“We know that Skalskoven is crucial to both Nibe and the festival’s identity. That is why we are also focusing on how best to protect nature going forward,” Madsen said.

The initial public consultation is under way. It includes proposals to widen existing paths and roads and establish new ones in and around the forest. The plans would also provide larger and improved parking and camping facilities, as well as the possibility of new stages and more visitors in the longer term.

The deadline for the initial consultation is tomorrow. Nielsen said she recognised the festival’s value to the local community, despite her concerns about the forest.

“Nibe Festival has put Nibe on the map in Denmark, and we are not opposed to Nibe Festival. But we are very concerned about our forest,” she said.