FAIRGROUND companies will face a lower increase in Goose Fair fees this October from West Devon Council after last year?s controversial 6% hike in charges threatened to drive the fairs away.
Fees for the use of the borough council?s land in Tavistock will be increased in line with inflation, expected to be in the region of 3.5%t.
Both Tavistock Town Council and West Devon Borough Council decided on an 8% rise last year but lowered it to 6% after a meeting with the Showmen?s Guild.
This figure, set because the authorities said staffing costs had risen, was unpopular with many fairground companies who threatened to stay away from the event.
They said charges had increased so much for Goose Fair over the years that it was hard to make a living from it.
The borough council?s director of community and services David Inman said it was increasingly difficult to get people to fill the spaces at the levels the authority was charging.
?We are likely to find some resistance from trade if we put the charges up too sharply,? he told the council?s economic, leisure and community development committee last week.