From Councillor Brian Hall, Chairman of the Festival Working Group

Q1 In respect of similar events are the two approved music nights different from the ones not approved in our submission?
The two approved music nights are two separate nights of entertainment, organised by different people/organisations in different parts of the town.
• One is being organised by a member of the public in a club, it is not organised by the club itself, and the venue is not charging for room hire.
• The second music night is organised by Aycliffe Village Hall Association. There is also no charge for room hire.

Q2 Did the Council give pre-approval for the Festival Working Group to book the two parties in the park?
The proposal for a ‘Party in the Park’ was put to the Festival Working Group on 15 February, where it was agreed to recommend this event to the Recreation Committee. This was agreed on 24 February and subsequently ratified at a meeting of the Council on 9 March 2016. There is currently only one Party in the Park taking place within the Festival period.

Q3 Why did the Festival Working Group tell the public that the events on the Working Men’s Club and Aycliffe Village Hall Association were going ahead before approval by the Council.
Publicity for the Festival was included in the Council’s newsletter and on the Council’s website. In the newsletter, it was clearly stated that ‘The Festival Working Group is currently considering event applications…’ On the website, prior to the list of events, it stated ‘All of the events listed below are not yet all approved and will be considered by the next meeting of the Festival Working Group.

Q4 Why did the Festival Working Group give full funding to themselves and the other two organisations and not ourselves?
The Festival working Group is a working group of the Town Council, which makes recommendations in regard to the Festival to the parent Recreation Committee. The ‘Party in the Park is a Council organised event suggested by the Festival Working Group and approved by the Recreation Committee and subsequently at the Council meeting on 9 March 2016.
The Council has absolute discretion to allocate funds, via its Committee system, from the Festival budget to events which have submitted satisfactory whole applications, including all of the supporting paper work.
In some cases, where all of the necessary supporting paperwork is not satisfactory, or when there are queries in regard to charges or other financial information, the applications may be passed back to applicants to provide additional information, explanations or a re-submission of applications.
Recommendations from the Festival Working Group to the Recreation Committee may not be accepted or may be referred back to the Working Group for further consideration.

Q5 How many members of the public are one the Festival Working Group to provide some form of ‘checks and balances’ to the process?
As advised above, the Festival Working Group is a working group of the parent committee, ie the Recreation Committee. Working Groups are set up for a specific purpose, in this case to focus on the Festival arrangements. They are not subject to the strict rules that apply to formal Council meetings and do not need to be held in public. However, a working group can only make recommendations to its parent committee and cannot make a decision on behalf of the Council.
At present there are six elected members on the Festival Working Group, supported by Council officers and, on occasion, advisors on a particular item may also be asked to attend. As this is a Council working group, no members of the public are members of the group.

Q6 Were the decisions made down to one organisation taking the bull by the horns and doing something positive?
All Festival applications are discussed on an individual basis. There are no objections to a club or other organisation submitting complete applications for more than one event or, in this case, 12 applications. The Festival Working Group, Recreation Committee and ultimately the Council will decide which applications will be supported and what level of grant may be appropriate.

Q7 Was the final decision as to full or partial funding and which events are suitable or not suitable just typical machinations of the decision processes of the Council in general?
The Council is a public body and its use of public money must be financially responsible. This means the Council must ensure that public money is spent efficiently to provide value for money.
In terms of grants, it needs to ensure that applications are checked and clarification sought where required. Ultimately, the final approval of grant requests lies with the Council. No doubt applicants for both special funds, such as the Festival grants, or general grants provided by the Council will receive them with thanks if successful or disappointment when not successful.