Tramlines: Sheffield Council says Hillsborough Park weather disruption will not be repeated

Torrential rainfall during the Tramlines weekend in July turned the music festival’s main stages venue into a quagmire. Much of the park has been out of action over the summer as work takes place to make good the damaged ground, funded by Tramlines.

Lisa Firth, council director of parks, leisure and libraries, told the economic development and skills policy committee (September 13): “I don’t want to underplay the impact that this has had, both on local residents, on Tramlines and the staff who are working to put that right, and then an absolute commitment within this report that that can’t happen again.

“Also, Tramlines is scheduled to be in Hillsborough Park in 2024 and tickets went on sale the day after – they work on an 18-month to two-year cycle, we have to give them that comfort so that they can sell tickets.

“We are going to put the park right now and then we’re going to get into the detailed discussions about how we stop this happening again next year and we won’t allow it to happen next year.”

She added later: “We are having an open and honest and dialogue with Tramlines, they don’t want this to happen again, so it’s in everyone’s best interests to make sure we get this right next year.”

‘Best value?’

Hillsborough ward councillor Coun Henry Nottage referred to press coverage in The Guardian that said some UK councils charge fees of up to £500,000 for festival park hire. The current Tramlines fee is commercially sensitive and has not been revealed but the festival paid £33,500 to hire Hillsborough Park in 2021, the committee was told.

Coun Nottage asked: “Does the council think that the fee paid by Tramlines represents best value for the people of Sheffield?”

He added: “That represents a fee of 70p per unique visitor. Would the council consider placing a levy above the Tramlines tickets that you pay for the parks or parks service of £5 per visitor per day, which in broad terms is about half a pint at Tramlines prices?”

Ms Firth said that her team were looking into getting more information about where the £500,000 figure came from and the evaluations used so that they can use it for Tramlines and other parks events.

She said she would discuss the £5 levy with Tramlines, who set their ticket price at competitive rates. Coun Nottage responded: “Given that tickets sell out ‘like that’ at the current prices, I’m sure that price of half a pint a day would not affect their bottom line.”

He also questioned the £3.8m quoted as Tramlines’ economic benefit to the city and was told the figure had been arrived at by a formula used by many councils and had been robustly tested.

Coun Laura Moynahan said: “I think it’s a great event for the city. I know there’s some inconvenience, we’ve got to mitigate any issues that have arisen in the park, but I’ll just go back to our discussion on the shared prosperity fund that we had, about the value of cultural activity in this city, the jobs it provides, the contribution to the economy and what happens in cities such as Leeds and Manchester that have far more activities in their parks and open spaces than we do.

“It does bring benefits to the economy, so I think it’s an excellent event.”

Coun Kurtis Crossland said: “I was just about to address the elephant in the room which is this year we got it wrong. Understandably, because it was more than double the amount of rainfall than we’ve had before.

“That being said, the report does make it clear that we do need to learn from that going forward, because the report also says how great Tramlines is for the economy and the city as a whole and it puts the city on the map for music.”

‘Superb event’

Coun Peter Price said: “I don’t think we did get it wrong – we got hit with horrendous weather which can damage any festival. I attended all three days of the festival and I also spent an hour in the city centre at the fringe looking at bands and I was probably the oldest member there, 85.

“I had my six-month granddaughter there with me at the time, so I had the oldest and youngest representation. Twelve of my family went, all three days, and it was a superb event for this city.

“The fact that nearly 50 per cent came from outside of the city is a tremendous bonus because, unlike when my kids went to Roundhay Park at Leeds, they take their own tents and caravan and stay there, at Sheffield’s festival they stay in hotels in the city and bed and breakfasts, which all brings money into the economy.”

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Coun Price added: “I think we ought to be proud of what we achieved, the fact that it carried on on that Sunday when it just never stopped bouncing, and the thousands still turned up.

“I understand the pressure on the local community – many communities have fairgrounds and Firth Park has two fairgrounds, Millhouses Park has a big event on. It’s unfortunate that Hillsborough is the one place in the city that has the big attraction, easy to get to for the people of Sheffield.”

He said he would be at Tramlines next year “if I’m still around” and praised everyone who had worked so hard on the event.

The committee report said that Graves Park and potential alternative venues such as Norfolk Park and Don Valley Bowl have been explored and rejected as too small in capacity and because of transport and other issues.

Tramlines will also be discussed at the communities, parks and leisure meeting on September 25.