The return of Splendour Festival to Wollaton Park in 2025 is expected to be confirmed within days after Nottingham City Council agreed a new contract with the organisers.
The council and local promoters DHP Family have run the festival since 2007, but last May the council announced it was starting an event tendering process for Wollaton Park to ensure the deal was best value for taxpayers.
But in January DHP Family said delays with this process meant it could no longer run the event in 2024 as it had not been left enough time to organise it.
Now a Nottingham City Council report, made public on Tuesday (June 4), shows a new deal has been agreed between the authority DHP to stage the event until from 2025 to 2029.
A final decision on signing the deal will be made by the council’s Commissioning and Procurement Executive Committee next Tuesday, June 11, the report says.
“The process was completed over the period May to October 2023 and DHP was identified as the preferred supplier,” the report says.
“Due to delays in the final negotiation and contract development, DHP made the decision to not proceed with the event in 2024. This report therefore seeks approval for finalisation of the event contract with DHP and for the contract to be revised to cover the period 2025-2029.”
The report confirms the contract is for the continuation of a two-day event. Nottingham City Council says the decision is worth £11.8m, based on estimated turnover over five years.
It adds the tendering process “identified that there are limited suppliers in the marketplace that are able to deliver to the specification and financial outcomes required”.
Around 30,000 people attend the festival, normally held in July. Last year’s festival was headlined by Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds and Madness.
At the time of January’s announcement, DHP Family said they were expecting the event would only take a break for 2024.
