Organisers of the Splendour festival say fans can "rest assured" that it will continue as the city council tests whether its partnership with the event is good value for money. The annual attraction at Wollaton Park has been run by DHP Family for the last 15 years, with this year's event headlined by Madness and Noel Gallagher.
But following the conclusion of this year's festival, on July 23, Nottingham City Council says the contract for its Wollaton Park music event will be put out for competitive tender. This means DHP Family may have to compete against other companies for the contract.
The new contract would be for the running of a two-day festival at Wollaton Park between 2024 and 2028, with Nottingham City Council having just approved a decision to launch the tendering process. Explaining the reason behind it, the authority says: "The concept of the event was originally conceived and developed between the council and DHP under annually agreed terms.
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"Due to the turnover value of the event this has been identified as a concession and under the council's procurement policy and best value now requires a formal tendering process to be undertaken." The authority says the tendering process will "test" whether its partnership with DHP still represents best value.
In a statement, DHP Family said: "We understand the council, as owners of the Wollaton site, wanting to check that they are getting value for money for city residents from our deal. We are confident that's what we offer already, and that's what we can offer in the future.
"We have ambitious plans to make Splendour an even more popular and successful event. We started last year going to two days, expanding the range of acts we can bring to Nottingham to perform alongside the local talent that has always been an important part of our offer and Splendour's appeal."
But in a message to fans of Splendour, DHP Family also said that the event would continue to run in future, with or without a city council partnership. The company said: "Whatever the outcome of this process, Nottingham's live music lovers can rest assured that DHP will continue to run Splendour festival, with or without a partnership with the council, whether that's at Wollaton Park or on another site."
Nottingham City Council says another option would have been for the authority to run an annual two-day music festival itself. But the council says: "This would result in potential costs and risks to the council.
"The event would still require supplier contracts, the securing of artists, and a significant investment and resource requirement which there is no budget or capacity with the current team to undertake. The approach to secure an external provider reflects changes in the council's risk appetite and approach in staging large events to reduce the financial risks and begin to move towards a cost neutral, commercial income events model."
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