Bognor Regis Herald — Date dispute for 2018 mars Seafront Lights Gala and Kite Festivals
The 2017 Seafront Lights Gala and the Kite Festival took place on August Bank Holiday this year and reports from both organising bodies spoke of great success. The two events took place on West Park, and both received public funding including major grants from the Town Council.
Now a row has broken out since the Kite Festival organisers have been told by Arun that their application to do the same again this year had been refused. Arun’s officer claimed there had been problems but Jan Maplas for the Kite Festival says there had been no mention of this from Arun until the letter of refusal, a period of 3 months. No discussion of any kind, and she and her colleagues had assumed that all would be well.
The Herald can report that two Arun Councillors raised the matter at the full Council in November:
“ Councillor Wells then made a Statement in accordance with Council Procedure Rule 11.2 in relation to Minute 19 (Events in Arun District) and stated that it had been unfortunate that two major events had been held in Bognor Regis over the same August Bank Holiday weekend. This had been flagged at the Bognor Regis Regeneration Sub-Committee meeting as this had caused logistical problems for both organisers. Councillor Wells asked if Officers could review the timing of these two events with the organisers and in terms of the support that the Marketing & Events Assistant provided to organisations. Councillor Wells confirmed that both organisers had been asked to submit event applications for the same dates for next year and so he again asked if Officers could revisit this matter.
“ Councillor Oppler also made a Statement in accordance with Council Procedure 11.2 by confirming his support to the comments that had been made by Councillor Wells. Both the events mentioned had grown and grown over the years and had become a firm feature in Bognor Regis’ events calendar. Having explained some of the problems encountered, Councillor Oppler asked the Council to support the organisers by letting them have access to West Park and he called for further liaison to take place between the Council and the event organisers to ensure both events would be a success again in 2018.”
Cllr Wells and Oppler are Lib Dems, the former serving Aldwick.
Jan Malpas says she heard nothing from either of the two Councillors which was regrettable as there had been no mention at all of alleged logistical problems or of neighbourly concerns. The Herald has seen the letter from Arun and it says that the decision not to allow the Kite Festival to run its event on the Bank Holiday in 2018 was made re the ‘seniority’ of the Seafront Lights Festival.
Cllr Martin Smith (Lib Dem) Town (Hotham) and Aldwick (Arun) has said that the matter is nothing to do with the Town Council as the events are held in Aldwick. Cllr Jan Cosgrove (Town, Orchard)(Lab) says: “That is a nonsense, we have awarded both major grants in 2017 and for next year, and I would have expected him as Vice-chairman of the Town’s grant-awarding Policy & Resources Committee to have recognised that before making that comment.” Cllr Cosgrove continued “I am concerned that there has been no prior discussion with Jan Malpas and co, an arbitrary decision based on an alleged ‘priority’ of seniority which I challenge has no basis at all.
“I am also very concerned that 3 Councillors have intervened in a partial manner to favour one event, especially as the organiser, Mr Burt, is a member of the same Party. In making their interventions, I believe those Councillors should have declared that link.
“Why did they not talk first with Jan? It does not look good and they need to explain their apparent partiality. It could look very sneaky to members of the public.” He has submitted a Freedom of Information request to Arun and called for round-table discussions to sort the matter out, as well as evidence of the alleged problems:
