An official review into the 2014 ‘Grand Departy’ concert will take place following Liberal Democrat calls.

Grand Departy review to go ahead

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, at last night’s cross-party Learning & Culture Policy and Scrutiny Committee it was agreed that a review should now go ahead and a task force will be setup.

Cllr Ian Cuthbertson, Lib Dem Councillor for Haxby and Wigginton, said before last night’s meeting:

“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.”

Cllr Cuthbertson will sit on the task force which will begin work in the coming weeks.

Information:

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.