Derbyshire Conservatives Hit Out atLabour for Cancelling Hugely Popular Derbyshire Food Fair
Derbyshire Conservative Group today hit out at Labour proposals to cancel the hugely popular Derbyshire Food and Drink Fair and Awards describing them as “Short-sighted.” The event, which started life as a much smaller annual fair at Bolsover Castle in 2001, used to cost Derbyshire County Council thousands of pounds per year. Under the new Conservative administration in 2009 it was instructed to go other parts of the County as a bigger event and to be self-sustaining financially.
The proposals will be considered by the Labour controlled Derbyshire County Council at their Cabinet on 23rd December.
Cllr Simon Spencer, the Cabinet member responsible for the changes at the time said,
“We recognised the significance of the food and drink sector to the economy of Derbyshire and sure enough, when the event was allowed to spread its wings it was a huge success and ran at Hardwick Hall, Kedleston Hall and then at Elvaston Castle, where it has run for the past two years. Year-on-year the event grew and attracted increasing numbers of producers and visitors.
Since 2009 it has been a far bigger, more successful event that has ceased to be a drain on the authority’s resources. Pound-for-pound, it has done far more to grow this vital sector than could have been achieved by any other means. It has encouraged new businesses, created jobs and a feeling of mutual support within the sector in a way that is far better than anything else we could have done. It has now become an annual fixture on the calendar of food and drink fairs around the UK.
To end these exceptional events is short-sighted.”
The proposals within the report going to Cabinet next week highlight a number of areas of activity that the County Council will proceed with instead of supporting the fair and awards ceremony, which include a ‘Made in Derbyshire’ campaign, developing a forum of various types of businesses to bring them together to trade, promoting local markets and high streets. Many of these things were ideas that evolved from or are already happening as a consequence of the Derbyshire Food and Drink Fair and Awards. The significance of the food and drink sector in Derbyshire has seen the re-emergence of strong viable high streets in towns such as Belper, which recently won the coveted ‘High Street of the Year 2014’ from the Great British High Street of the Year Awards. Many Belper producers showcase their produce or brands at the Derbyshire Food and Drink Fair and Awards, creating a force that drives the economy and high street success.
The event is also enjoyed by nearly twenty thousand visitors each year.
Conservative Leader, Barry Lewis, who is also a co-director of Amber Valley Wines that has held a stall at the Fair for the last two years said,
“It is astonishing that something that under our administration came very close to being completely self-sustaining financially has apparently now become unsustainable, which speaks volumes about this Labour administration.
The Derbyshire Food and Drink industry benefits enormously from these key events, which act as a showcase for the industry allowing peer-to-peer support and access to other industries like tourism, via Visit Peak District and Derbyshire, also supported in part by Derbyshire County Council and the wider tourism sector. These sorts of relationships are amongst the key benefits to the industry that were a beneficial by-product of both the Fair and the Awards.
Most worrying of all is the proposal to look at new approaches and ways of drawing in external funding and yet the report recommends pulling the rug from under the industry first, by cancelling the Fair and Awards. Yet perversely the Cabinet paper recognises the Fair and Awards as being the focal point of the Councils programme to support the industry. It’s contradictory and sheer folly.
No amount of ‘strategic’ thinking, or external funding can replace the benefits these events, especially the Food and Drink Fair, bring to the County in terms of growing the food and drink and tourism industries. Unfortunately, some of the new ideas proposed look a lot like the creation of additional regulation rather than help for the industry. This is a most unwelcome Christmas present for the Derbyshire food and drink economy.
Labour has once again shown that it is out of its depth, making cuts and creating red tape that will impact negatively on Derbyshire’s economy. It really is cutting your nose off to spite your face.”
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