Subject: RE: Sidmouth festival 2005
From:
GUEST,Cllr at work
Date: 09 Jun 04 - 12:48 PM
This is from a discussion group I post to I wonder when we will get the follow up from Mrs Casey.
**The preceding post to this was asking about political involvement**
The disposal of public money is quite rightly a political issue. The actual argument of festival continuation is either down to Financial problems IE /funding from the council or over Mrs Casey willingness to continue it as a business proposition, if they don't want to do it no amount of debate over funding issues will change the bottom line.
My own take on the " political" situation is this.
Responsible politicians should not hand over the best part of Sixty thousand pounds without checking or seen to be checking what is being done with the money. The council have not said the funding is to be withdrawn just that they want to scrutinise the way it is used.
It is not for local councils to support private businesses and unless it can demonstrate to auditors, inspectors, and the voting public that it is a a valid use of tax payers money they could be accused of maladministration.
The provision of a survey from the interested party is not enough especially as to my knowledge it does not address the issue of how much money would enter into the local economy by tourism at the height of the holiday season regardless of whether the festival is there or not. Invisible earnings from tourism are always difficult to quantify at the best of times. While the council have a duty to promote tourism and the local economy it is not a statutory duty and any promotion or fiduciary help should be carefully monitored in the public interest. There has been increasing pressure on councils from this government to realise full market value from any of its assets including monies from hiring rent etc The charity commission has also gone down this route as well.
The amount of money that the festival brings in to the area is substantial but the direction in which it flows is not I.e., publicans, hotels, supermarkets have a bonanza but the detail of what they put into the festival or local economy is not readily available. The argument of advance ticket sales not covering the cost of the festival has been simplified to such an extent that it is difficult to have a serious public debate. The lack of transparency is not just due to sensitive commercial issues, which I think is understandable, but also due to the lack of quantifiable evidence.
If one excepts the rational that advance ticket sales only covers half a million which means that if we assume £150 per ticket and £50 camping that only 2500 are available (ok figures are approx and don't take into account the variations but you get the drift) This means if the other figures are to be believed that the other 37,500 that attend only buy enough tickets to raise around another quarter of a million. I realise this does not seem to make sense but at the level of public debate this is all the info we have available. Note that also, this year the attendance is reckoned to increase from 40,000 to over 60,000
We have a microcosm of the festival writ small in the middle bar every year. Usually a local tries to talk over the singers quoting "it's my bar, I drink here all the time, bloody folkies have you heard the latest ring tone where is my mobile phone" etc without realising (or more importantly) without wanting to accept the the festival enables Sidmouth to support so many drinking establishments. I read in the herald that one resident complained about the Maroons, that alert the inshore rescue crew, saying it should be banned as it frightens her dog. Local residents will have different views and just because they get published does not mean that is a majority view.
If the festival is to continue in anyway near it's present format, the way forward can only be debated properly when Mrs Casey's intentions become clear.Either they are seeking better conditions in which to operate and are hoping to continue or they are hoping to maintain the current situation or they are trying to disengage without seeming to be just abandoning the whole thing. If they pull out for ANY reason - financial- lack of funding, insurance costs, PRS, lack of profit or too much grief interference from council PEL whatever, then I would hope that Steve would want the festival to continue ( I do believe his heart is in the right place despite the intense criticism he and his organisation attracts) and at this point any interested parties Council/ Friends/MBS/shellbacks/mudcatters should be able to pick up the reigns without having to start over, so that renewing longstanding arrangements/partnerships/funding sources could be achieved. I'm not saying these things wouldn't change but a handover of any sort would be infinitely preferable to a start form scratch approach and more disconcertingly the only feasible way forward.
The complicating part of this, as if it needs anymore, is that the interested parties do not have a common goal, by that I mean while everybody (or most) thinks the festival is "a good thing" there are many differing views on what format it should take. The old joke about How many folkies does it take to change a light bulb? exemplifies the disparity of views that can be held within the folk scene itself and this division or divisions do not aid in coming forward with at best a continuation of the festival at worst a rescue package solution. As I have already mentioned the prerequisite for debate around change still lies with Mr Heap which should become clear(er) in the immediate future.
I love the festival and one day I hope to move to sidmouth as I love the place all year round. I have offered whatever assistance I can to certain parties which I hope will be taken seriously. As a politician "who makes his living from it" and as a folkie event organiser and performer I feel I do have a better chance of understanding of the issues and the positions being taken, but the demonisation of any of the parties folk, fringe, Steve Heap, politicians, residents and local business does not forward the debate. I discovered my love of unaccompanied singing in the middle bar and I want to continue for another fifty years.
Cllr
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sj
