GODIVA TICKET PRICE RISE APPROVED

A SHARP rise in ticket prices for the Godiva festival have been approved - despite claims it will ‘destroy’ the event.

Cabinet member for events Cllr Abdul Khan signed off the new charging policy during a meeting at Coventry City Council on Thursday, January 30.

The highest price of £12 for an on-the-door ticket on Saturday is a whopping 500 per cent increase on the £2 ‘admin fee’ introduced last year.

Reduced prices are available if tickets are bought sooner, with an ‘early bird’ ticket costing between £4-6 for adults per day, or £12.50 for a three-day ticket.

Plans had sparked concern from the opposition Conservative group, with leader Cllr Gary Ridley claiming the proposals had “taken the UK’s biggest free festival and destroyed it”.

The festival has been hit by severe financial difficulties in recent years and the council has said new charges will ‘ensure the sustainability, safety and high quality of the festival.’

But, after approving the new charges, Cllr Khan insists people “will be happy to pay”.

He told the Local Democracy Reporting Service: “The fundamental reason for this is we are not getting money as we used to get from central government.

“We hope that in time the festival will become cost neutral to the council.

“Having piloted charging last year the feedback we got was we should actually charge more.

“We have resisted turning it into a commercially-priced event and we have subsidised it as much as we can.

“People said they were happy to pay it.

“We wanted to try to make it affordable and at the moment we do not believe there will be a drop in numbers attending.”

Last year, 78,742 people visited Godiva - the first time it was ticketed and the first time a charge had been introduced in its 20-year history.

Charges have been introduced due to escalating running costs.

An investigation by the Local Democracy Reporting Service found Godiva 2018 was £479,000 over budget, running up a total taxpayer spend of £913,000.

During Thursday’s meeting, Cllr Allan Andrews, deputy leader of the Tories, said he “accepted pricing” for Godiva but was concerned about the steep rise on last year’s fees.

He added: “I have not really been assured about how we are engaging potential corporate sponsors that would benefit from supporting the festival, that would not have people in Coventry effectively paying twice for the festival as they are through their taxes and to attend as well.”

Val Birchall, head of sport, culture and destination services, told him the council is engaging with ‘new prospects.’

Cllr Khan added after the meeting: “Hopefully we can get a sponsor to help in the future.

“We have had approaches in the past but not all have been appropriate to reflect the image of the festival.”

Cllr Khan also signed off an additional budget of £200,000 for Godiva this year, taking the total council budget to £275,000.

The festival will return on July 3-5.