Nottingham’s Splendour pageant cancelled, leaving organisers “pissed off”
Nottingham’s annual Splendour pageant has been cancelled this 12 months and has left organisers “pissed off”.
The music pageant was held yearly in Wollaton Park in July, with varied artists – each well-known and up-and-coming – performing throughout 5 levels throughout the two-day occasion.
DHP Household – which organises Splendour – shared that again in Might that Nottingham Metropolis Council informed them they wanted to bid to proceed operating the occasion at Wollaton Park. In an announcement posted to the pageant’s official Instagram web page, they shared: “Final Might, Nottingham Metropolis Council initiated a pageant tender course of for Wollaton Park, which regrettably has encountered quite a few delays from the council’s aspect.”
It continued: “Delivering a high-profile occasion like Splendour requires greater than a 12 months’s price of planning, and these delays imply we now have not been left with sufficient time to placed on the pageant. We all know lots of you may be unhappy to listen to this information, however relaxation assured, we’re working onerous to convey Splendour again to Nottingham in 2025. Keep in contact and we’ll see you quickly!”
Per BBC, the council stated it was “optimistic” Splendour would return in future years. George Akins, DHP’s managing director, stated: “We’ve got tried onerous to make Splendour work in 2024 however the delays attributable to the tendering course of have meant this simply hasn’t been potential.”
“It has been a vastly irritating time for us,” he added. “Splendour may have gone forward had the council heeded our warnings concerning the time scales required. 2023’s headliners have been contracted greater than a 12 months upfront and everybody was conscious of this.”
In response, a Nottingham Metropolis Council spokesperson stated (per ITV): “Since its inception in 2008, the pageant has grown to turn into one of many best-loved within the nation. We, due to this fact, fully perceive why individuals will likely be disenchanted that it gained’t happen in 2024.”
They continued: We stated final 12 months that beneath the council’s new business technique, the occasion fell right into a class the place a proper tender course of was wanted. This was to guard the authority legally, financially and to make sure the pageant was attaining finest worth for the council and the residents of Nottingham. The procurement course of is complicated and has taken longer than we might have favored – this has made the viability of delivering a pageant in 2024 very troublesome.”
DHP Household additionally addressed the affect the cancellation of this 12 months’s pageant may probably have on the native economic system. In an announcement (per Nottingham Post) the organisers stated: “The affect on the native economic system may very well be tens of millions. We pay the council a considerable web site payment to make use of Wollaton Park. The council doesn’t contribute financially to the pageant. The pageant pays for all the things, together with any council providers. For instance, we paid greater than £30,000 to town council waste providers for the clear up final 12 months, which will likely be vital business earnings for them.”
They continued: “The broader affect would be the lack of income to town – the pageant attracts 40,000 individuals over two days – when it comes to lodging bookings, transport and native employment. As a Nottingham-based enterprise, we make use of native safety, infrastructure, e book native merchants, and, after all, present an vital platform for native musicians too.”
Final 12 months’s version of the Nottingham fest noticed Noel Gallagher’s Excessive Flying Birds and Insanity as headliners, with different acts reminiscent of The Kooks, Rudimental, Sugababes, Sam Ryder, Confidence Man and Altered Photographs performing too.