Behind-closed-doors Festival of Flight talk

Behind-closed-doors Festival of Flight talk

9 March 2022

LOCAL politicians have discussed in secret the possibility of staging the highly acclaimed Festival of Flight in Newcastle next year.

At Newry, Mourne and Down Council’s monthly meeting on Monday night, the media and public were barred from a behind-closed-doors discussion on staging the flagship tourist event next summer after the plug was pulled on this year’s event.

The Recorder understands that potential costings of staging the international aviation festival — which is headlined by the Red Arrows — were not discussed during the secret debate.

Before the issue was discussed in private, council officials argued that it would be “premature” to determine the organisation’s 2023/24 events programme before costings had been determined.

When the press were readmitted to the online meeting, it was confirmed that the local authority would work towards putting the Festival of Flight into the 2023/24 events programme, subject to approval from its Enterprise, Regeneration and Tourism Committee.

Several weeks ago, the decision to ground this year’s festival was also taken in secret, with the Ulster Aviation Society, which has played a major role since the inaugural festival, describing its disappointment at the cancellation decision.

The Society said it was “disappointed and dismayed” about the cancellation of the airshow and the fact that the organisation had not been consulted with the organisation’s chairman, Ray Burrows, saying it was “astonishing” that the event had been “shot down in secret, with no reasonable explanation”.

On Monday night, Cllrs Glyn Hanna, Kathryn Owen and David Taylor said they were keen to secure a firm commitment that everything would be done to ensure that the aviation spectacular, which draws up to 100,000 visitors to Newcastle and provides a major boost for the local economy, would go ahead next summer. The festival was last held in 2019.

Cllr Hanna said that while it was disappointing that this year’s event would not be going ahead, a number of suggestions for an alternative festival had been made. He asked that that all Mournes area councillors are consulted before anything is agreed for this summer in Newcastle.

“There is a substantial amount of money available and Mournes councillors should have a massive say in what happens in Newcastle this year,” he added, with his suggestion backed by Cllr Leeanne McEvoy.

Cllr Owen proposed that a firm commitment should be made to include the Festival of Flight in the council’s events calendar for next year.

She said she had been contacted by a number of business owners and aviation enthusiasts who were concerned that this year’s festival had been cancelled and hoped that it will proceed next summer.

Council deputy chief executive Dorinnia Carville said it would be would be premature to determine the events programme for 2023/24 ahead of finding out how much it would cost.

She said Cllr Owen’s comments would be taken on board and fed back to the events team for consideration and then referred to the Enterprise, Regeneration and Tourism Committee which will determine next year’s events programme.

The council official said the organisation had to go through the rates process each year and look at budgets thereafter.

Several weeks ago, it was confirmed that this year’s Festival of Flight would not go ahead due to the challenges in planning such a major festival, securing commitments from participants and with the uncertainty caused to date by the coronavirus pandemic.

The international festival was cancelled in 2018 because of bad weather and was also grounded in 2020 and last year because of the Covid-19 pandemic.