Plan to charge for air festival turned down

The free festival has attracted up to 1.3 million people in previous years

An application to bring back a popular air festival was turned down due to a lack of information, a council has said.

Recent plans to revive the Bournemouth Air Festival, last held in August 2024, included a paid ticketing scheme.

Organiser Dave Rogers hoped to raise £1m by charging for an Aircard that would offer 10% off food and drink at the event.

Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Council (BCP) said: "We've carefully assessed the application in line with our processes and, at this time, do not feel there is sufficient information to progress it."

Mr Rogers announced the new scheme on social media at the end of August.

It was the first time a group had publicly suggested people pay to go to the event since it was scrapped.

In a recent post, he said anyone who had purchased an Aircard would get fully refunded.

"Including 100% of Ticketmaster's handling fees as well. Nobody will be out of pocket whatsoever," he said.

"People will see their full refunds coming in over the next 4-5 days."

The air show ran as a free event from 2008 to 2024 and was estimated to have attracted up to one million people to the resort each year at its peak.

Usually held in August, attractions included the Red Arrows as well as other military and civilian aircraft displays over the seafront.

Rising costs meant that BCP Council ended its financial backing, with its contribution to the final event in 2024 reaching £248,000.

The funding was cut to manage a £50m shortfall in the council's budget.

Richard Herrett, council portfolio holder for destination, leisure and commercial operations, said: "We've carefully assessed the application in line with our processes and, at this time, do not feel there is sufficient information to progress it.

"As I've said before, we remain open to receiving applications for a wide variety of events that benefit our communities and visitors."