Worcester festival charge plan scrapped after council vote

The Worcester Show regularly attracts more than 10,000 visitors

A plan to introduce an entry fee for a city event has been scrapped and visitors will be asked to instead make a voluntary donation.

The move for the Worcester Show had been proposed by the city council after it ran up a £12,000 shortfall in 2022 which the authority had to cover.

But councillors rejected the plan for a £2 fee when they voted on it on Monday.

Several said the idea had been brought in at short notice and suggested reducing the show's size in future.

The event each August regularly attracts more than 10,000 visitors and the previous two have been held at the city's Pitchcroft Racecourse.

But the city council was facing a £1.7m gap in its budget for this year which councillors have already agreed will be filled using financial reserves.

However, with the shortfall expected to grow to almost £4m in the next five years, officials have warned there will not be enough in reserves to keep covering it.

Instead they have turned to some of their popular and heavily-subsidised events to try to save money.

The event in 2022 ran up a £12,000 shortfall which the council had to cover

Introducing such a charge for the Worcester Show was an "extremely difficult" decision, councillor Jabba Riaz said.

But the move was rejected and councillor Karen Lewing said it seemed "rushed" and suggested the event could instead be scaled back.

The authority might look at "doing things differently" and could downsize the festival next year, the council's managing director David Blake said.

It would depend on how much money is saved in the next 12 months, he added.

Councillors also heard the authority might begin charging entry fees for other festivals but had already ruled this out for the city's Victorian Christmas Fayre and lights switch-on.

"In terms of the other events, there may be opportunities for some of the other things we do, where we look to introduce a fee of some type," Mr Blake told them.