Gosport Waterfront Festival organisers accuse council of 'cornering' local events market

The newly announced ‘Party in the Park’ could replace the cancelled Gosport Waterfront Festival (GWF) if it’s approved by councillors next week.

Vic Woods, co-organiser of GWF said Councillor Peter Chegwyn, leader of the council has had ‘historic animosity’ with lead organiser Dave Smith.

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‘With the 2023 Festival in its organisational phase and contractors and acts already engaged with, Peter Chegwyn’s council landed a huge unpayable bill for use of the venue – Walpole Park – in Dave Smith’s inbox,’ he said.

‘This was unannounced and unprecedented. Historically previous councils have waived the standing fee of £1,450 per day.

‘GWF is a community interest company and has no start-up money and relies on sponsors and ticket sales which feature in the very transparent accounting spreadsheet.’

Next Wednesday (July 5) the council’s policy and organisation board will seek to grant the Party in the Park event £10,500 from the museums/cultural budget and a further £9,000 from the Criterion revenue budget.

Mr Woods added: ‘The festival scenario suggests a level of mendacity and vindictiveness way beyond expectation from a Liberal Democrat administration.

‘We both believe he should not be allowed to run the council like this, corner the local events market and ride roughshod over people like this.’

In response, Cllr Chegwyn said the GWF organisers cancelled the event ‘of their own volition’.

He added: ‘They didn’t apply for any grants or anything so the fault of there being no Waterfront Festival is theirs and theirs alone.

‘The council has now moved on, we’ve got a replacement event with Montserrat Events – it will be better than the Waterfront Festival and there will be free entry for all residents.

‘The show must go on, the festival is still happening, it just doesn’t have Dave Smith and Vic Woods running it.

‘I don’t think the people in Gosport give a monkey’s who runs it so long as there is a festival and they can enjoy live music with their mates and have a few beers on Walpole Park.’

If approved the Party in the Park will take place on July 29-30.