Cambridge Big Weekend cancelled over expense

The Hoosiers, pictured here in 2007, headlined the event last year

Cambridge's Big Weekend music event has been cancelled after the council said it was too expensive in its current form.

A majority of councillors on Cambridge City Council voted to end the annual event at a meeting on Thursday.

The Labour-run authority said it expected to save £113,000 a year by not hosting it.

Alex Collis, from the council's executive, said some of the "most valuable aspects" of the weekend could be put into other events.

Ms Collis, executive councillor for open spaces, food justice and community development, said she had heard people's concerns about cancelling event on Parker's Piece, but it was "expensive" and could not continue in its current form.

"Infrastructure costs are up across events, sponsorships are down; you do the maths, because we certainly have," she said.

Fellow Labour councillor Martin Smart told the meeting: "Parties are great when you can afford it, but times are tough."

The decision was met with a backlash from some opposition councillors, with the Liberal Democrat group arguing the council should continue with the event this year, the Local Democracy Reporting Service said.

Liberal Democrat councillor Lucy Nethsingha said it was "shocking" that the event would be cancelled.

The leader of the council, Labour's Anna Smith, said the authority did not want to be having to consider whether it could continue to fund the festival, but it had to make around £11m of savings over the next five years.