Row over Bridgnorth Carnival bunting defused after town council pledge

This year's carnival was held on June 3 to coincide with the Queen's Jubilee and brought praise from the thousands of people who attended.

But a row broke out over funding made to the carnival towards the cost of putting on the event.

Councillors who met on Tuesday had been expected to ask Bridgnorth Carnival Committee to return £3,552 to the town council.

The money was made up of £1,972, the difference between the grant given and grant required, £205 - half the waste removal costs incurred by the town council and £1,393 compensation for the expenditure incurred by the last-minute erection of bunting along the High Street.

However an alternative motion was put at the meeting by Councillor Nicky Cooper.

She said: "We need to take a step back and find out what level of reserves are needed for the carnival committee to put on a carnival in 2023."

Her motion proposed that there was a discussion between a council officer and carnival representatives and the level of reserves needed to allow the carnival to go ahead in 2023 before the town council clawed back money.

The motion was voted for, by eight votes to one, with five abstentions.

Councillor Luke Neal said he wanted to thank the carnival committee members for all their hard work in bringing back the carnival in 2022.

"We want to work towards putting on the carnival next year," he said.

The meeting heard from carnival committee members David Gough and James Gittins that there seemed to have been a misunderstanding over putting up bunting for the carnival.

"There was no undertaking to provide bunting," Mr Gough said.

"We are all volunteers and it is very upsetting that it has come to this."

Mr Gittings said that putting on the carnival was very weather dependent.

"We were lucky this year that much of the day stayed dry and the town was packed. However if the weather was bad would people support it?"

The carnival committee says the 2023 carnival day will be held on May 28.