Town show is facing overhaul as budget slashed by £17,000

Plans have been drawn up by Rotherham Council which would save 17,000 on the 62,000 cost of the annual show, held in Clifton Park each September.

A number of options for cuts to the show's budget are to be discussed at a council meeting tomorrow, ideas including removing the wooden floor in the "One Town, One Community" marquee, cutting the size of the show programme and reducing the number of charity stalls to just 15, thereby allowing the authority to make more money from additional trade stalls.

In the report set to go before tomorrow's meeting Marie Hayes, the council's events and promotions service manager, says: "Rotherham Show has been running for 31 years and during that time has expanded to provide a wide range of entertainment for visitors.

"The show is entirely free for the public including free entry and a free park and ride facility.

"We have examined every aspect of the show to see where efficiencies could be made. The largest areas of spend are on staffing – security, electricians and joiners, general duties staff and marquees.

"Of these, security and general duties staff cannot be reduced unless we significantly reduce the size of the show. However, there are ways to reduce the budget required.

"The proposed options outlined will deliver a saving of 17,000 on the Rotherham Show budget."

Funding for Rotherham Show is taken from the council's Civic Events budget. This year this was 106,941, of which 61,559 was spent on the show and 45,382 was spent on the Christmas lights. The annual cost has barely risen from Rotherham Show's budget of 55,000 ten years ago.

However, savings now need to be made due to the swingeing budget cuts being imposed on local authorities.

Staging the horticultural aspect of the show costs 11,000 and only 341 was made in entry fees last year.

As a result, Ms Hayes has drawn up three options for the future of the horticultural show - cancelling it altogether which would result in a "clean saving", keeping it as it is and the third, recommended option, which is to cut it back to one marquee and cancel a number of classes to create a saving of 5,000.

She said: "In surveys the horticultural show comes out as one of the most popular aspects of Rotherham Show. However, there has been a steady decline in the number of people entering classes year on year.

"It is very staff intensive to stage and due to the nature of the show it is not possible to gauge how much space is required until the day before the show."

If the horticultural show is cut back, the most popular categories would be kept, as well as one "specialist" category such as photography or jam making, which would change each year.

Other options for savings include saving 9,000 by leaving the One Town One Community marquee without a wooden floor and saving 1,000 by cutting the size of the programme by four pages and using cheaper paper to print it.

The final option is to cut the number of charity stalls, as charities pay only 83 for a spot compared to the 204 for professional traders. This year there were 61 professional trade spaces sold and 31 charity stalls.

Ms Hayes said: "Limiting the number of registered charity stands to 15, with a proviso that these be offered to Rotherham charities first, would provide for a more attractive shopping experience for the visitor. We do receive a number of verbal complaints and comments about the amount of tombola stands.

"Limiting the number of charity stalls would save 2,000, due to the additional income from trade stands."