Bexhill traders' group criticises council's £2k charge to use sports ground for carnival

A chamber spokesman said the authority was behaving ‘churlishly’ to charge for the use of public land for a community event.

He said: “Bexhill Chamber members are proud to provide financial support and volunteers to help ensure carnival keeps going from year to year.

"Post Covid carnival has struggled, like many events, with ever rising costs but this year they faced a new challenge, as they needed to raise an extra couple of thousand pounds.

"Once again everyone pulled together and donated more than the required amount within days of the announcement. But this wasn’t money needed to buy a terminally ill child a specially adapted wheelchair, it was money to pay RDC for Polegrove ground rent after they changed their terms and conditions.

"Pre-Covid Rother offered community and charity events the use of council-owned public land like the Polegrove and seafront lawns for free as a way of making a contribution in kind to our then thriving voluntary events sector.

"Covid decimated our voluntary events sector but we have tried to bounce back with events like the Coronation and Medieval Pageant. However, Rother seems determined to finish us off by churlishly charging charity fundraising and community events to use public land, which is already paid for from council taxes.”

A Rother District Council spokesperson said: “We appreciate and support the good work event organisers do to put on events across the district but due to the council’s £3 million funding gap, we are no longer in a position to support discretionary services in the same way as we have in the past.

“Previously, some event organisers had Partnership Funding Agreements with the council to support with costs. These originally expired in March 2022 but were extended to March this year. Other regular event organisers were informed in 2019 that event charges would be uniformly applied from 2020, but because events were severely disrupted due to Covid-19, charges were not applied to large events in the summer of 2022 in order to treat all in a fair and equal manner.

“Such events do not take place at no cost to the council, with costs for grounds maintenance as well as a considerable amount of staff resource liaising with organisers and checking documentation to be considered. The council also has a statutory duty to ensure that any events taking place on council land have necessary safety provisions, and in addition they can result in loss of revenue from sports bookings or car parking dependant on the location.

“The council’s Regeneration Team has opportunities for event grant funding and more information, including how to apply, is available on our website. To encourage community events, the council also has separate tiers of charges for not for profit/charitable events and commercial events, and our current event charges can be found under the Leisure and Events section of the council website.”