Should next year’s Cowley Road Carnival return to the road where it started?

That will be the key question at a special forum next month to look at how the county's biggest free celebration moves forward.

But Oxford City Council’s East Area Forum chairman Dick Wolff warned the issue was “not black and white”.

The carnival, which is part funded by the council, attracts up to 35,000 people each year.

However, increasing costs of road closures have led to it being moved to nearby South Park in two out of the past three years.

Mr Wolff said: “The cost of putting on the carnival as it was are enormous. It is not simply a question of having it on the road, it’s about how we raise £50,000 or more when no-one has got any money.

“I am approaching it with an open mind as to whether it can be achieved.”

He said his personal preference was for an event in the road, but he said he hoped everyone who made demands about what the carnival should be and where it should take place would back up their demands with offers of help.

He said: “It is a grand East Oxford party that brings all the different community groups together.

“Having it on the street forces that issue because it really is right here in the heart of East Oxford.

“Whether that can be done really effectively just in the park or whether that just turns into an overgrown church fete, I don’t know.”

The figures for the cost of putting on the event vary according to what exactly is planned, but the most recent estimates put forward by organisers put the cost of closing the road and side streets at £24,000.

Mr Wolff, who represents St Mary’s ward on the city council, said: “You can’t beat having it on the road, but we’ve got to be realistic.

“Simply closing the road is very expensive, even for an hour.

“The main thing is to get the purpose of the event right and get more people involved in making it happen because in the past a few people have flogged themselves to death to make it happen.”

He called for families, individuals and businesses who felt passionately about the event to sign up to help stage it.

The carnival is held on the first Sunday in July, this year preceded by a fundraising Fiesta in the Park headlined by rapper Roots Manuva.

As well as the parade, the carnival offers food from around the world along with music and dance stagess.

The East Area Forum’s next meeting in on Monday, September 19, at East Oxford Primary School, Union Street, starting at 6.30pm.

Carnival trustees are due to attend.