What is needed here is diplomacy, and neither you, nor for that matter I, can hold a candle to Andy in THAT department.

Whatever diplomacy was used - you seem to be overlooking the fact that it has clearly failed, as this year's event will not be taking place.

I can see little evidence of any of this diplomacy being shown.

What I can see is that many people who may be equally upset about the loss of this event being accused of threatening it.

Publicly appointioning blame on the local athority without supplying any information and expecting people not only take this on trust but and then telling them that they have all the information they require - could hardly be described as an example of diplomacy at its best.

A cynic could be excused for thinking that if this is an example of the diplomacy used locally - then this alone may be a major cause of why this year's event has been cancelled at this late stage.

I am not a cynic and under the circumstances - I think that this initial attitude towards those equally concerned about the festival's loss can be excused for now.

But I hope that on reflection a more sensible approach will prevail and that some information can be supplied which will help others and prevent any uninformed public speculation from causing any further damage locally.