‘FROZEN IN THE HEADLIGHTS’ - LIB DEM VERDICT ON COUNCIL’S FOLK FESTIVAL DEBACLE

Lib Dems say that City Council seemed 'frozen in the headlights' in the aftermath of last year’s losses from the Cambridge Folk Festival. They found the council’s response  to the decline in attendance and rise in costs way too slow to save its cancellation in its 60th anniversary year. They were reacting after the extraordinary committee meeting they had called, at which they had the chance to quiz the council officer and Labour Executive Councillor in charge.

It emerged from the report and answers to questions that adverse trends had set in over the past 2 years - well before last year’s festival - with ticket sales and costs already visible before it opened its doors in 2024. Yet the decision to commission a consultant review into how to make changes for the future was taken only 6 months later, leaving no practical possibility of running the festival in 2025.

Cllr Cheney Payne, Lib Dem spokesperson on the Folk Festival, said after the committee meeting:

“An independent review is doubtless the right thing for the council to do, but no-one tonight could satisfactorily explain why this hadn’t been commissioned at any time over the past year. The data shows the writing was clearly on the wall. What was actually going on between the end of last year’s festival in August and the following January remains unclear. It feels that the council was frozen in the headlights. If they had moved faster, their 3-month independent review could have been undertaken, and recommendations implemented - with the 60th anniversary festival still taking place this year. It is surprising that the Executive Councillor responsible, Cllr Wade, despite apparently being aware at all stages, couldn’t see that it would have been best to get the review done as fast as possible to save the 2025 festival. The longer she delayed, the more there was only one viable answer - to cancel.

“It seems that we now have the worst of all worlds: the extra costs of not running the folk festival, the extra costs of running alternative events and the extra costs of an independent review - together roughly equal to the loss on last year’s festival; when we could have had a folk festival instead!"

Cllr Olaf Hauk, another Lib Dem committee member said:

“We can now see that the Folk Festival cancellation costs local businesses £2m but hardly saves the council a penny. Coming on top of the cancellation of other local events, the decision not to hold the Folk Festival hits the city and the local arts sector particularly hard. So why wasn’t faster and more decisive action taken to save it? And why wasn’t there more transparency - at least to councillors - at an earlier stage, where others could have pointed out what eluded Cllr Wade?

"The whole affair has been handled in a most manipulative and unnecessarily secretive way, right down to avoiding sharing the situation with the relevant committee the night before the cancellation announcement and waiting 9 weeks before holding a committee discussion afterwards. Even tonight, the committee chair attempted to curtail the discussion and there was a silly Labour suggestion that the matter could be better discussed by sending emails! At every turn Labour wants to silence debate. Cambridge and its Folk Festival really deserves better than this.”