The council is seeking feedback on a proposal to permanently end its Bonfire Night and firework events due to the large costs of holding them.
Leeds City Council began a consultation on Thursday, February 16, requesting views on no longer holding the city and community bonfires it has previously held on November 5. The council said it is already seeing a gap in the budget for the 2023/24 financial year, and that holding the Bonfire Night events costs an estimated £215,000 every year.
In December, the council estimated it would see a £65.7m gap in the budget for 2023/24, which could increase to £84.5m over the next two years. The council cancelled the 2022 displays due to 'significant budget pressures' - and they had previously not happened in 2020 and 2021 due to the pandemic.
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The council usually holds a city bonfire event at Roundhay Park, as well as five community events at Bramley Park, East End Park, Middleton Park, Woodhouse Moor and Springhead Park. The council states that the Roundhay event is one of the largest in the country and can attract up to 70,000 visitors.
Earlier this year the council raised the idea of introducing parking charges at the city's parks, including Roundhay park, Golden Acre Park and Otley Chevin. But after receiving feedback from residents, the idea was scrapped.
The idea was to proposed to help Leeds council balance the budget, but the council said after receiving feedback that it would be able to balance its budget without introducing a 40p per hour parking charge. Councillor Salma Arif said at the time that further work would still need to be done to identify savings in the council budget due to financial pressures.
The Local Government Association has said local authorities across the country are struggling with the rise in inflation and energy prices, with a demand for services increasing as the cost of providing them also increases. The association has called for the government to allocate more funding to local authorities to cover the increased financial pressures.
The bonfire consultation is taking responses until Tuesday, March 7, at 5pm. Once the consultation is over a decision will be taken before the end of March.
A spokesperson for Leeds City Council said: “A consultation was launched on the 16 February for residents to share their views about bonfire and firework events not to resume. The council is working hard to cut all non-essential spend in the current financial climate and there is a cost of £215k each year to hold these events, and it is proposed that future displays no longer take place from 2023.
“The Council budget position received at Executive Board in December 2022 identified an estimated gap of £65.7m for the 2023/24 financial year, with a further gap of £84.5m over the following two years. The Council continues to be committed to working with partners to ensure that significant community and cultural events will still be able to take place later this budget year.”
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