Questions continue over festival move discussions

Discussions that ultimately led to the relocation of a popular winter festival were under way while bosses were claiming it would still go ahead in its usual place, the BBC can reveal.

The Winter Droving has been held in Penrith for 14 years, but last month organisers announced it would move to Carlisle, sparking outrage.

At the time, Eden Arts said it had been working "until the last minute" to keep the event in the town but financial challenges had made it impossible.

However, paperwork for the event had not been submitted in the usual timeframe and plans for a new Carlisle event began in July. Eden Arts said claims it had always been planning the move were "not true".

Westmorland and Furness Council, which authorises road closures in the Penrith area, said the temporary traffic regulation order for the October event had not been applied for this year.

Its website states three months are needed to process applications.

But organisers said, following a meeting with the council's safety advisory group, they had asked for flexibility on the timeline to submit the application.

Penrith Business Improvement District (BID) deputy chair, Dan Harding, said since January they had been "constantly" asking Eden Arts to make a decision about whether this year's event would go ahead.

Regular business sponsors in the town had not been approached, he said.

"It screams that [moving it has] always been the plan," Harding said.

Eden Arts said it had approached businesses but had not been successful in securing enough sponsorship.

Emails between Eden Arts and Cumberland Council, which covers Carlisle, obtained by the BBC under the Freedom of Information Act, show discussions about the move started in July.

The charity initially contacted the council to say it had £65,000 of Arts Council England (ACE) funding "available" to put on a new event in Carlisle the weekend before The Winter Droving, and that it was deliverable if "we push go now".

Organisers also asked if £20,000 of additional funding could be provided, but the council said it did not have any budget available.

In early August road closure paperwork for an event in Carlisle, on the original Penrith Winter Droving date, was submitted to the council.

Eden Arts director Adrian Lochhead said the organisation had been attempting to run two events in parallel on consecutive weekends to achieve "economy of scale".

"We were thinking, maybe we can make this happen for both places," he said.

"It became apparent that we weren't going to be able to get the Penrith event to happen, so we had to switch and focus on the Carlisle one."

Lochhead said the festival had struggled financially in recent years and last year's cancellation had left it with unexpected costs.

Cumberland Council is not providing any funding for the event in Carlisle but the city's BID provided £40,000, Eden Arts confirmed.

A spokesperson for ACE said the transfer of its funding was requested by Eden Arts on "the grounds that delivery in Penrith was not viable".

It said it understood people's "disappointment".

Lochhead said "borderline threats" had been directed at the Eden Arts team since they announced the move, but he was still committed to the festival returning to Penrith.

"I don't think we're perfect, but we've been trying to do the right thing all the way through," he said.

The charity had written to organisations and businesses in the town to invite them to get around the table to find a solution, he said.

"It's such a brilliant thing," Lochhead said. "We want to keep it going and it's up to everyone else if they want to."

Harding said he believed a return was unlikely and businesses and the community had already rallied around to put on a new event when The Winter Droving was due to take place.

"Trust is gone," he said.

"We're just trying to do something this year and then we can grow it for the future years."

The new event, called The Gathering, will take place in the grounds of the town's Mansion House and bandstand and will include live music and roaming street performers.

Also on 24 October Eden Arts' new Carnivale takes place in Carlisle.

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