New food and drink festival in popular Sheffield park given green light

A proposal for a new, “one-off” food and drink festival in a popular Sheffield park has been approved despite concerns from campaigners.

Sheffield City Council’s charity sub-committee has decided to vote for a summer food and drink festival in Graves Park.

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The “Graves Park Food & Drink Festival” will take place between August 30 and 31.

As reported last week, those aiming to run the festival are proposing a “family friendly celebration of international influence and local talent, expressed through international food, independent drink, live music, arts and charity”.

A proposal for a new, “one-off” food and drink festival in a popular Sheffield park has been approved despite concerns from campaigners.A proposal for a new, “one-off” food and drink festival in a popular Sheffield park has been approved despite concerns from campaigners.
A proposal for a new, “one-off” food and drink festival in a popular Sheffield park has been approved despite concerns from campaigners.

However, at the meeting yesterday (January 21), Caroline Dewar from the Friends of Graves Park told members and officers that they objected to the plans because of a number of reasons, including the land should not be fenced off and it should be free to access at all times.

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She added that if chargers were made, these should be on the parking which should not be free and the park is “not a proper event’s ground and it is not constructed as such”.

Ms Dewar said if it was a free event and revenue would come from the stalls, that’s acceptable but this “sort of event is not suitable for Graves Park”.

She finished her statement by saying that the potential of revenue is not worth the disruption and damage caused to the site.

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Catherine McDougall, the Graves Park Manager, reiterated what was in a report the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) covered previously, and said the proposed event would take place in one of the grass areas – approximately two per cent of the land – in the centre of the park.

The land would be fenced off with a ticket booth at one side of the fencing.

The fencing, the authors added, would not “prohibit public access” around the field or to any part of the park.

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The document noted that the company would pay a fee to the charity to use the site.

Tickets would be sold as

Early Bird: Adult £5.95/ Under 16 £2.95/ Under 5’s Free

Final Price: Adult £9.95/ Under 16 £4.50/ Under 5’s Free

The report added that “the festival will be priced at an accessible level” and “other than free food festivals, you won’t find a better priced food festival”.

Members voted in favour of the festival.

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