Cowley Road Carnival cancelled over lack of funds

Cowley Road Carnival was last held in 2019

A "hugely popular" summer carnival has been cancelled a month before it was due to be revived after four years.

Oxford's Cowley Road Carnival, which attracts tens of thousands of people, was not held during the Covid pandemic and took a further break in 2022.

Organisers said the event on 9 July could not be staged because of increased costs, lower grant income and a financial deadline from contractors.

Oxford City Council said it had tried to support the event's funding needs.

The carnival is staged in Cowley Road, Oxford, and surrounding streets

Cowley Road Works, which arranges the event, said it regretted that its "relentless efforts and extensive preparations" had not been successful.

Chief executive Pax Nindi said: "[It's] really, really disappointing. It's only last week that we got all our posters, all our leaflets done and we told everybody we are going to do it."

He said the "crucial" blow was a £31,000 quote for road closure support and cleaning from Oxford Direct Services (ODS), a council-owned company.

Tens of thousands of people attend the annual event

Mr Nindi said: "Our event management spent like the last three/four weeks trying to get these costs from these people only to be told on Friday... they wanted £31,000 for their service instead of £6,000 that we normally pay."

He added that Oxford City Council had reduced its grant from £25,000 to £7,000, an Arts Council grant application had been rejected and the committee was unable to meet a deadline to pay toilet and fencing providers in advance.

However he said the carnival would definitely return in 2024.

The council said it was sad that the "hugely popular" carnival would not be held this year.

It said the organisers approached ODS for a quote "just weeks before the carnival was due to take place" and there was "very limited scope" to reduce costs.

The authority added that the committee had not taken up invitations to apply for grants worth up to £15,000 or stage the event in a park to reduce costs.