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July news
Cancellation of Portsmouth events
It is with regret that Portsmouth City Council yesterday (Thursday 17 July) confirmed that the Portsmouth Summer Family Show and Southsea Rocks events planned for 1, 2 and 3 August in Southsea have been cancelled.
Portsmouth has a national and international reputation for hosting a wide range of successful, large-scale public events that are enjoyed by many thousands of residents and visitors each year.
The city council has worked with a number of commercial and charity organisers to build this reputation over several years, including the Great South Run, Trafalgar 200 and more recently the Moonlight Memories Walk in June raised almost £250,000 for the Rowans Hospice.
Over the last few months the city council has been working with a local organiser who wished to stage the Portsmouth Summer Family Show and Southsea Rocks on 1, 2 and 3 August.
A public event has to comply with all necessary health and safety and licensing legislation.
The organiser has failed to engage with the relevant agencies to actively progress the planning of this event. Portsmouth Safety Advisory Group – that includes the police, ambulance, traffic management, licensing and trading standards – met on 11 July and advised the city council they would not support this event going ahead.
The city council has given the organiser every opportunity to respond to the issues raised by 4pm on Wednesday 16 July including safety, alcohol sales, site control and emergency evacuation. However, the organiser has failed to provide satisfactory information within this timescale and the city council has had no option but to inform the organiser the event cannot go ahead.
David Williams, chief executive of the city council said: “We are very aware that many people will be disappointed the event is cancelled, but we have a responsibility to ensure the public is protected and that all health and safety requirements are met.
“There are many other events over the summer that will continue to attract large numbers of people to our city.”
Mike Hancock, Cabinet member for Planning, Regeneration and Economic Development added: “We have not taken this decision lightly and obviously regret the disappointment this will cause. But as we were unable to guarantee the public’s safety at this event we had no alternative but to cancel it.”
Chief Inspector Andy Houghton said, “The planning for the Portsmouth and Southsea Family Show has been ongoing for many months now and making the recommendation to cancel it was a very unfortunate and difficult decision to make, however we were put in an impossible position with deadlines repeatedly missed and insufficient planning made. Our top priority is to ensure the safety of everyone at the event and in the city and we were unable to say with surety that every provision had been made to certify that safety.
“We fully support the idea of these kinds of events in Portsmouth and are always more than willing to work with organisers, but it is an important process where legal requirements have to be met, and that must always remain an essential criteria.”
Date : 18 July 2008
