VB popped over to see Jamie Fothergill, one of the organisers of the Chale show (on this weekend), to find out the story behind reports of the Isle of Wight council unexpectedly and at short notice insisting they have a temporary 30MPH speed limit outside the show ground, adding £800+ to the cost of running the event.
The people who organise the Chale show know a thing or two about putting on a big event – they’ve been doing for years after all.
This year they submitted their event safety plan in May to the Isle of Wight council, months before the event which runs over this weekend. It’s perfectly usual, part of the license application process.
About two weeks ago, on 20 July, they were unexpectedly contacted by an officer of the council’s Highways department.
Highways not normally involved
Jamie Fothergill tells us that events like the Chale Show, that have a license for under 5,000 people, don’t usually attract the attention of the Highways, but they can if they like have a look over it.
Highways were most insistent that a temporary 30 MPH speed limit would have to be created outside the Chale event, Jamie told us. They cited the death at Bestival that occurred last year.
The thing that’s hard for the Chale Show is that this ruling from Highways comes late in the day and has a considerable price tag to it. £610 is paid to the council for the privilege. It’s unclear what that money goes towards, but it’s known that £95 of it goes straight to the County Press to announce it.
Additional costs
The additional costs for the show don’t end there, the company that looks after their traffic management has to get in additional signage, etc, adding around another £200 to the costs.
Jamie said he was surprised that no consideration was given by the council that the profits raised by the show are purely for donation to the Island community – £12,000 from last year’s show alone.
Completely different circumstances
As Jamie pointed out to VB, the situation outside the Chale show and that of the accident at Bestival are markedly different – The Chale show is not on in the dark; Chale have verges that can be walked on; their demographic is markedly different and the area where the Bestival accident occurred already had a 30 MPH speed limit in place.
Jamie joked that it would almost be cheaper for the show to pay for taxis from the bus stop, that pay the additional, and unexpected, £800+.
We’ll contact the council to find out what the £610 additional charge is spent on and their reasoning behind the temporary speed limit.
UPDATE 12:12 – This just in from the council.
This from Peter Hayward, Head of Highways and Transport
“We require event organisers to submit traffic plans as the safety of people attending or passing by these events is of paramount importance.
“We contacted the Chale Show organisers because the traffic manager had not received such plans by the time the event was being advertised. Having reviewed the arrangements last year, we believe a temporary speed limit of 30mph needs to be put in place in the interests of safety.
“The cost of implementing this temporary speed limit is £600 and we believe this cost should fall on event organisers, as happens for similar events, rather than general council tax payers.
“It is important that event organisers ensure traffic plans are properly reviewed to make sure that people are safe when visiting their event.”
The council hasn’t yet answered the question about what the £610 gets spent on.
