New measures to prevent repeat of Torbay festival fiasco

Report targets council 'weaknesses'

New staff have been taken on and new rules put in place to make sure there is no repeat of the disastrous Torbay Food and Music Festival fiasco of 2023.

A new report targets ‘weaknesses’ in Torbay Council’s procedures in the run-up to the event, which was called off at the last minute. It emerged that the company trusted to put it on had never organised anything on such a scale before.

One leading councillor admitted the event had gone ‘belly-up’ because the chosen company was not capable of running it.

Now four new roles have been created at the Town Hall to help tighten up after the collapse of the star-studded festival left many local people out of pocket.

A new report also details a raft of new procedures to make sure future events are less likely to fail.

The event on Torre Abbey Meadows last May was supposed to feature live music from the likes of UB40, The Vamps and Razorlight as well as a host of celebrity chefs.

The council pledged to spend £120,000 over three years to get the event off the ground, but it was cancelled just weeks before it was due to go ahead as the company behind the event - Case Live - stopped trading and appointed liquidators.

The council was so keen to get the festival off the ground that it had given Case Live a £20,000 advance despite the company having only recently been set up and never having organised an event before.

Hundreds of local people were left out of pocket after buying tickets.

An independent inquiry by the Devon Audit Partnership said the council had to introduce more safeguards.

Case Live had no track record for running such large events, and the inquiry asked how the company could have been selected as the council’s partner, and what due diligence was carried out.

The council went through two tender processes for a company to put on the festival, and although they were both unsuccessful, it was still keen to go ahead with the event. A ‘waiver’ process saw Case Live getting the contract on the understanding that it scaled back its original tender.

The inquiry called for better controls within the council and more rigorous scrutiny of potential partners.

A new report on how the council plans to make sure there are no repeats of the festival collapse will be considered at a special meeting next week.

A number of revised procedures will be set out, along with details of the four new roles to manage procurement and contracts.

In the immediate aftermath of the festival’s collapse last summer, the council apologised and said it would learn from its mistakes. It said it needed to rebuild trust with people who bought tickets for the event.

Cllr Cordelia Law (Lib Dem, Tormohun) told a council meeting: “People spent their money on tickets because they trusted us. Now it’s as if we have been made complicit in them losing huge amounts of money.”

And deputy council leader Chris Lewis (Con, Preston) added: “We need to give a big apology from Torbay Council to those people who did buy tickets. Clearly due diligence did not take place to the extent it should have.

“In good faith the administration went ahead, offering them £20,000 to kick it off, then lo and behold, it all went belly-up.

“We all wanted it to happen, but the company was not capable of running such an event.”