Council keeps schtum on rink organiser
The name of the organisers behind a failed Ice Park event is being kept from the public. Maidstone Borough Council was working with a company on a Christmas Ice Park for Mote Park.
In September we revealed the event had been cancelled and anyone who bought tickets had been refunded.
But repeated attempts to discover who the organiser was have failed.
Maidstone Borough Council has now refused a Freedom of Information request, saying it wanted to protect the company’s finances.
A member of the council’s Policy and Information team wrote: “I am not required to provide information in response to a request if it is considered to be commercially sensitive.
“In considering the public interest test, we consider the public interest is greater for maintaining the exemption than it is for disclosure.
“We consider disclosure of the name would be likely to prejudice its commercial interests because this company organises many different events and, if the name was publicly linked to a cancelled event, this could negatively impact on sales and its ability to organise future events.”
MBC say it was cancelled after organisers were not given a personal guarantee on equipment arriving from Europe. A spokeswoman said: “Having failed to reach an agreement with the suppliers the decision was made by the organiser to cancel and pursue an alternative supplier for a 2020. We were not willing to sign off on this without the public’s interests being guaranteed.”