Off-road motor festival is off (From Oxford Mail)
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Off-road motor festival is off
7:00pm Wednesday 27th July 2011 in News By Ben Wilkinson
AN OFF-ROAD motor festival which has raised £110,000 for charities is off after the military landowners wanted more money for hire of the venue.
Abingdon 4x4 Festival is the Rotary Club of Abingdon’s biggest fundraising event and has been held at Dalton Barracks airfield for the last 10 years.
It was due to take place on September 24 and 25, but organiser the Phoenix Land-rover Club said the Defence Estates wanted restrictions.
The main beneficiary of the event has been Thames Valley and Chiltern Air Ambulance Trust, with more than £50,000 in donations.
In a statement on the event website, the Rotary Club said the Defence Estates were expecting “substantially increased revenue” and wanted to impose more restrictions, which made the event no longer viable.
The statement said: “The representative of Defence Estates seemed unwilling to take into account that this is a community event to raise money for local charities, which serve the residents of Dalton Barracks, Abingdon, and the wider community of Oxfordshire.”
It is not known how much the MoD was asking to host this year’s Abingdon 4x4 Festival, but a decision was made to cancel it on Friday.
The web statement said: “Defence Estates would be expecting substantially increased revenue from the event in 2011, together with the imposition of a number of restrictions concerning the use of the site.”
The festival has raised money for charities such as Helen and Douglas House, Against Breast Cancer, the John Radcliffe Hospital, and Down’s Syndrome Oxford.
Stevey McAleer, vice chairman of the Phoenix Landrover Club, said: “They [Dalton Barracks] want more than we are charging at the moment, which leaves nothing for the charities.
“They put huge restrictions on the off-road course and on the number of vehicles. We will have less people coming and we will have to pay more money out.
“The Landrover Club is gutted to say the least.”
The Rotary and Landrover clubs had hoped to make the festival bigger this year.
Mr McAleer said: “We have been trying to expand the festival to include the entire family, not just the people who drive 4x4s.
John Thompson, of the Rotary Club of Abingdon, said: “It’s big shame because everybody is losing.”
Ministry of Defence spoke-sman Becky Clark said the cost had risen as the application was for a bigger event.
She said: “These charges were in keeping with the standard charges for such events, which are regularised country-wide by the MoD.”
Comments(8)
Phian
says...
8:23pm Wed 27 Jul 11
We had enough of micromanagement under the previous administration.
Being a bigger event, costs could be greater than before and any being carried by the M.O.D would ultimately be covered by us - the taxpayer.
Lord Peter Macvey
says...
8:41pm Wed 27 Jul 11
Victor Meldrew2
says...
6:52am Thu 28 Jul 11
It's part of the new 'Big Society' mate - get people to do things for nothing then charge them
ccomley
says...
8:47am Thu 28 Jul 11
colbart
says...
11:50am Thu 28 Jul 11
This year the MOD want a bigger chunk of it. Their excuses are new rules which limit the amount of vehicles allowed, at a higher cost. (Insurance??). So fewer vehicles being charged more..and I suspect a smaller more restricted 4x4 course....
Bigger event = more headaches for MOD having more members of the public on 'their' land??.
dddmhc
says...
1:13pm Thu 28 Jul 11
As with most of these spats there will be two sides to the story. The organisers wanted to make it "bigger and better", that gave the MoD a licence to change whatever terms they wanted...
...and they did, for whatever reason.
Stop moaning about it and use your energy to see if some other kindly soul wants to host it instead.
oldtower
says...
11:52pm Thu 28 Jul 11
Lord Peter Macvey says...
7:20pm Wed 27 Jul 11