Great News for those of you going to reading Festival 2007. Mean Fiddler’s Reading Festival organiser and boss Melvin Benn has given the festival the all clear despite the floods which have left parts of the site still underwater.

He said the field where the arena stands is relatively dry, but around 30 per cent of the campsite is under water.

He added: “I am sure this flood water will subside fairly quickly we have seen it like this in the past. It was very wet in 2003. But the land will still be very wet. I expect that by the time we get to the festival date we will still not be able to use 10 to 15 per cent of the camping area.”

Mr Benn is already planning to use part of the car parking area at Scours Lane for campers and land on the other side of the river at Mapledurham, providing a ferry to carry them across to the music arena.

He said: “It will mean that some of the festival-goers won’t be quite as close to the action as they might like to be, but it can’t be helped.”

The Reading Festival site operators will gradually move on to the site this week to prepare for the event, which runs from Friday, August 24, to Sunday, August 26.