A ‘SERIES of financial issues’ underpinned the county council’s decision to cancel this year’s Fish Week festival, members heard on Thursday (March) .

Speaking to members of the economy overview and scrutiny committee, Dr Steven Jones - the council’s director of development - said the ‘trigger’ for suspending this year’s event was the unexpected illness of council food development manager Kate Morgan.

But, he added, the decision was underpinned by a ‘series of financial issues’.

Dr Jones said the festival had never been supported financially by the county council, with the money coming largely from EU and Welsh Government grants, plus sponsorship and – more recently – income from events.

But in the last five years the department had seen its staffing levels cut by 50 per cent, and that with Ms Morgan absent there was no one else to help ‘fill that financial gap’.

With just three full-time staff employed in tourism and marketing for the whole county, the council was also finding it difficult to book the ‘celebrity chefs’ the festival has become known for.

Dr Jones said local partners such as Pembrokeshire Coast National Park Authority (PCNPA) and Pembrokeshire Tourism had been unable to provide support at such short notice, and despite showing an interest, the Port of Milford Haven had been unable to quantify what help it could provide at the time.

Given this ‘overall risk profile’, the decision was taken to suspend the festival until next year ‘to preserve the reputation of the event and council interests’.

He said the council had been ‘acutely aware’ of its reliance on external funding for some time, and was now hoping to copy the success of independent festivals such as Narberth and Really Wild food festivals by moving towards a ‘trust model’, which would provide more commercial freedom, and access to more funding opportunities.

Receiving the report, committee chairman Michael John said the way the situation had been handled was disappointing, but thanked Dr Jones for his honesty.

He reiterated that it was frustrating that some members would have read about the cancellation in the local newspaper, before they received an internal email.

Cllr Jonathon Nutting added that councillors should have ‘known from the outset’ that there were problems, and that instead of consulting externally first, the authority should have come to them.

“We’re all part of the same team,” he said.

Dr Jones said that in the ‘heat of the moment’ it had not been able to consult effectively internally, and accepted this 'wasn’t sufficient in hindsight'.

To avoid this happening again, Cllr John asked for and update in six months on how plans for next year’s festival were progressing.

Cllr Paul Harries said Newport and St Dogmaels had expressed and interest in putting on an event this year, and asked what assistance the authority could offer.

Dr Jones said the council would be happy to help promote any event planned locally via its corporate marketing team.

Cllr Nutting said the council should let local town and community councils know that this was the case, as it might be ‘just the extra push they need to do something’.