Sheffield park friends group object to weekend food festival
A Sheffield park friends group has objected to a food festival being held there this August Bank Holiday.
The Friends of Graves Park argue that the park should be free and open to everyone and that the business of the Rose Garden Cafe would be badly hit by Graves Park Food Festival.
Group chair Caroline Dewar spoke at a meeting of Sheffield City Council’s charity trustee sub-committee yesterday (March 9). The park is owned by a charitable trust, of which the council is sole trustee.
She told councillors: “The Friends of Graves Park are broadly in favour of events in Graves Park. However, it is against the [charitable] covenants to fence off part of the park and charge for entry.
“The financial benefit is irrelevant, for obvious reasons.
“The food fair wasn’t held over the Bank Holiday weekend last year, so it wasn’t disruptive in the same way to local people or, more importantly, the cafe.
Freedom
“Graves Park is free to use and is a major draw on bank holidays. This freedom will be seriously impacted by the food fair, as will the business of the Rose Garden Cafe, which the council is supposed to be supporting.
“While many will be drawn to the food fair, other visitors will stay away.”
Ms Dewar also raised the question of Norton Nurseries, saying that the friends group is “disappointed” that there is no date for the launch of a promised public consultation.
The friends want to restore the former parks department nurseries to parkland. The council has been using the area as a temporary parks waste store and vehicle depot.
Committee chair Coun Richard Williams responded partly in writing and partly in person.
His written answer said the friends’ own Facebook page had backed the return of the event.
Benefit
The trustees had “carefully considered the proposal and concluded that hosting the event is in the charity’s best interests.
“This is based on both the additional recreational offer, which is not otherwise available in the park, and the financial benefit, which naturally exceeds the income received by the charity from the café”. He added: “The event occupies less than half of one field, equating to around 3.5 acres out of the park’s 250 acres”.
Coun Williams added at the committee that often businesses worry about the impact of events but he knew from personal business experience that they can benefit from increased trade.
He said this includes the Tramlines music festival in Hillsborough Park. “My understanding is that shops in Hillsborough do very well indeed over Tramlines Festival.”
Coun Williams said: “We will ensure that it’s monitored and if there is a detrimental impact on the Rose Garden Cafe we will obviously bear that in mind for future years.”
Consultation
He said that he remains committed to ensuring that the Norton Nurseries consultation goes out as quickly as possible but it must be in the correct format first.
He said the friends group would get the opportunity to look at the consultation and make comments before it is shared with the public.
The meeting also agreed to appoint a new mobile coffee truck catering operator for the park near the Charles Ashmore Road entrance after an operator who previously won with their bid withdrew. The successful bidder will operate with a five-year contract.