Nottingham’s Splendour festival will not go ahead in 2024 after a process of running bids to organise was hit by delays.
Last year Nottingham City Council announced it would run a formal tendering process for events at Wollaton Park, which hosts the annual event.
Splendour organisers DHP Family this has since encountered “numerous delays” and it was now too late to begin planning for this year.
The council drew up a tendering process for some local events and services last year as part of efforts it said were necessary to drive financial improvements and ensure it was getting best value for taxpayers.
In a statement on the Splendour festival website, DHP Family said it expected the festival was only “taking a break” for the year.
“Last May, Nottingham City Council initiated a festival tender process for Wollaton Park, which regrettably has encountered numerous delays from the council’s side,” it read.
“Delivering a high-profile event like Splendour requires more than a year’s worth of planning, and these delays mean we have not been left with enough time to put on the festival.
“We know many of you will be sad to hear this news, but rest assured, we are working hard to bring Splendour back to Nottingham in 2025.”
Around 30,000 people attend the two-day event, normally held in July. Last year’s festival was headlined by Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds and Madness.
A Nottingham City Council spokesperson said: “Since its inception in 2008, the festival has grown to become one of the best-loved in the country. We, therefore, completely understand why people will be disappointed that it won’t take place in 2024.
“We said last year that under the council’s new commercial strategy, the event fell into a category where a formal tender process was needed. This was to protect the authority legally, financially and to ensure the festival was achieving best value for the council and the residents of Nottingham.
“The procurement process is complex and has taken longer than we would have liked – this has made the viability of delivering a festival in 2024 very difficult. However, we remain optimistic that we will be able to secure an event for future years and hope to announce plans regarding this in the coming months.”
