Liberal Democrat Councillors will make fresh calls for a review into 2014 ‘Grand Departy’ concert when the issue is discussed on Monday.

Last November, Lib Dem Cllr Ian Cuthbertson submitted a request for a review into the “planning, promotion and delivery” of council organised events for the 2014 Tour De France in York.

These events included the £187,000 loss-making ‘Grand Departy’ concert at Huntington Stadium.

In January, Labour councillors led calls to delay the inquiry until after May’s local elections.

However, following the delay the issue is now back on the table and will be discussed at Monday’s cross-party Learning & Culture Policy and Scrutiny Committee.

 

Cllr Ian Cuthbertson, Lib Dem Councillor for Haxby and Wigginton, will attend the meeting to support an inquiry. He commented: 

“It was disappointing that councillors chose to delay the review into the Grand Departy concert in January. Besides a loss to taxpayers of £187,000 from the concert, there were serious issues raised about public safety at the event. The report on the overall economic impact of the Tour De France did not address these issues and there are still unanswered questions. A proper inquiry is needed to establish what happened and what lessons can be learnt for future events.”

 

ENDS

 

Notes:

 

The report on the issue can be found here and details of Monday’s meeting can be found here – it takes place at 5:30pm at West Offices.

 

Then Labour controlled City of York Council overspent its budget for the Tour De France with the ‘Events and Festivals’ programme losing taxpayers £252,000. The poorly received ‘Grand Departy’ music concert at Huntington Stadium was the single biggest loss. The event cost £206,000 to stage but ticket sales meant only £19,000 in revenue was brought in, producing an overall loss of £187,000.

 

Concerns also emerged over public safety at the concert. Minutes from the July 2014 meeting of the council’s Safety Advisory Group highlighted problems including, locked fire exits, blocked emergency exits and no licence to allow people to use covered seating areas.