The committee behind the Accrington Carnival has announced that they will not be organising the event in 2017.
The Accrington Lions, who have been involved in the carnival since the 1970s, have said they will not be organising the carnival in two years’ time.
In a letter to the Observer, chairman of the Accrington Lions Caz Moreton said despite appealing for help, no-one has come forward.
She said: “Despite over the last few carnivals appealing to other organisations and individuals for support with the organisation of the event to lighten our workload, no assistance has been forthcoming. It is with some sadness we have to inform the community of Hyndburn that we as a club have made the decision that we will not be organising a carnival in 2017.”
Caz said the Lions were feeling disheartened and said restrictions put in place by Hyndburn council had caused problems for organisers.
She said: “We are all really gutted, there was a lot of bureaucratic red tape, we just feel we’ve had to fight for every little thing.
“We tried to do something completely different this year with The Tigers parachute display, live bands, The Vikings and KiddiVik, bubble football and the mascot race which involved local businesses.
“With regards to the fun fair we were not allowed to have one as we could not put anything on the council land that was bigger than a transit van. We arrange for small children’s rides and entertainment to attend but some of them let us down on the Tuesday before the event.
“We have had lots of really positive feedback from the public and stall holders on social media and emails in the first instance, but have received the odd criticism which we are open to as long as it is constructive. This is to be expected as you cannot please everybody all the time.”
One of the main criticisms of this year’s carnival was that the Accrington Pipe band did not play, as they had been booked for another event in Skipton. The Lions also said they were on a very tight budget and that the pipe band’s fees had more than doubled in six years to £350.
Band secretary Val Stokes said the date the carnival is usually held on has always been kept open by the band, but they were unable to fulfill this year’s rescheduled carnival date.
She said: “We always leave the date of the third weekend in June open for the carnival every two years.
“We charge the same amount of money for any carnival we go to, where are you going to get a full pipe band for that price? You can’t.
“We are self sufficient, the money goes towards maintaining the uniforms and paying for our practice space.”
Coun Ken Moss, Cabinet Member for Parks and Open Spaces said: “We are always more than happy to work with local organisations who organise community events, to make sure that are not only enjoyable, but also safe for the people who come along on the day.
"Nationally there have been some serious accidents and incidents at outdoor events and we do all we can to prevent anything like that happening here. Like all Councils across the country, we have a duty of care for the safety of our residents and work within national guidelines for both event and food safety.
"It’s correct to say that originally we had all agreed that Higham’s Playing Fields could be used as a venue. However, due to bad weather there was some delay to the construction of new pitches on the site and they were not ready to take such an intensive use. For this reason, we offered the King George V playing fields as an alternative. All that was a year before the event, so there was plenty of time to plan.
"We are always mindful of the needs of our local sports people too and as King George V playing fields was due to be used for football ten weeks after the carnival, we asked the Lions to consider siting its heavier vehicles off the pitches to minimise any damage, so pitches could be ready for the start of football season."
