AN INTRODUCTION of charges for events involving road closures by Cornwall Council, has come as a 'bit of a blow' to organisers of a community festival in East Cornwall.

Cornwall Council has announced it has become necessary to charge communities and groups to hold events which involve managing the street by closure, marking out secure areas and ensuring people are safe.

Until now the council has spent around £175,000 per year providing a free service. The scale of the financial cuts facing the council means that it can no longer continue to do this and will introduce a series of charges for the service from January.

During the public consultation, which took place earlier this year, many event organisers told the council that such charges would affect the quality and sustainability of their events.

Chairman of the committee that organises Gunnislake Festival, which has been running for 13 years, Jill Pengelly said it will be another cost on top of everything else they have to pay for.

'It will mean more fundraising for us. It's only a small festival but it's yet another cost. The more charges we have to pay, such as insurance, running costs etc and now road closures, the less money we will have to put into paying for various entertainment. Although not a huge cost, now they have introduced the charge, it can escalate.

'The support for any fundraising for the festival is now very important for the success of Gunnislake Festival in 2014.'

Calstock parish councillor Dorothy Kirk said: 'Cornwall Council talks a lot about sustainable communities — getting everyone involved in community events — but the council is making it more and more difficult to do that. It's come as a bit of a blow.

'Gunnislake Festival has always been a real community effort and really enriches the life of the community. Now it has been made much more difficult for the one-day festival as we're going to have to find more money to carry it out.

'The council won't make much out of it so it seems like a petty thing to do — the consequences will end up much greater than the revenue.'

Bert Biscoe, Cornwall Council's cabinet member for transportation and waste, said: 'I deeply regret being obliged to introduce charges which may deter many — especially smaller — communities from holding events which are the cement of our communities.

'These charges will also affect our economy. However, in the current circumstances, we can see no alternative. I hope that our successors will, in time, see fit to restore freedom of self-expression to communities by removing these charges when it may be prudent to do so.'

Events held in Callington will not be affected as the town council has managed to avoid the charges by putting several people, including council officials, through event management training. This means the town council can manage its own road closures.

The new charges range from £40 for events which have less than 5,000 people, to £90 for larger events. Promoters of commercial events will be expected to pay the full cost. Street parties and Remembrance Day parades will not be subject to any charge.

The council is happy to provide local councils with 'road closed' signs, which they can store and use. This will reduce the costs of deployment in future. 'No Waiting' cones are also available for a small charge.

A wide range of services across the council, Visit Cornwall and emergency services are involved in supporting, regulating and enforcing event activities.

To ensure that event organisers are supported in a way that is structured and avoids duplication of effort and to provide maximum support for successful event planning and event safety, an event notification process has been established.

The event notification process provides a single point of contact for organisers, local safety advisory group support, web pages dedicated to assist event planning, promotion and financial support opportunities.