Disappointment as much-loved Biggleswade funfair asked to close on opening day due to paperwork confusion

The stalls and attractions were due to run from Thursday, August 18, to Sunday, August 21, on land off Eagle Farm Road.

However, its time was cut short as owner and manager, James Harris, says he received a call from the town council on the Thursday asking him to shut down.

The council has told the Chronicle that this was due to "operational reasons".

James said: "I'm not very happy with how this was handled but in the future I hope we can work together. I have a long relationship with the council.

"The council and the Mayor have apologised and I am looking forward to working with them in the future."

The town council offered James another site and date, but unfortunately he was already booked up.

A town council spokesman said: "The town council regrets that it had to cut short the funfair on Thursday, August 18. This was done solely for operational reasons.

"It is also regrettable that communications stretching back several months with the event organisers, Central Bedfordshire Council and the Town Council were fragmented and hence less than ideal when trying to ensure adherence to ever higher national standards, having said this the council is satisfied that it has followed due process in a timely and appropriate manner.

"Council officers will continue to engage with the event organiser to enable them to deliver future funfairs for the benefit of the community."

James told the Chronicle that the town council was supposed to submit an Event Management Plan to Central Bedfordshire Council.

However, he believes the plan was only submitted around August 12 - when he says it should have been submitted around three months before.

Advice was also given to J W Harris and Sons, with the town council cc'd in, via a Central Bedfordshire Safety Advisory Group email.

However, an advisory group has no powers to stop an event taking place.

A CBC spokesman said: “The Safety Advisory Group works in partnership with emergency and other services to support safety at events and in public places. The aim is to advise and help organisers with the planning, and management of their event.

“Unfortunately, there was some confusion surrounding an email from the Safety Advisory Group to the organiser of the event. This acknowledged the receipt of the required event notification form and highlighted some gaps in the information. While it did say the event could not be supported it was not asking for the event to be closed. It still could have gone ahead.

“After further investigation, it appears that two different event notification forms were submitted under different event names and for different dates for the same event but both of which were missing some documentation.

“We apologise for any confusion. We are looking at our processes to avoid anything similar happening in the future.”

Biggleswade Mayor Councillor Grant Fage told the Chronicle: "J W Harris and Sons are a very important relationship to us.

"I have spoken to our council staff and asked them to do ‘a lessons learnt', so we can make sure events run smoothly in the future."

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