Forums Forums Local News Wirral Air Show Should be Postponed 1yr

As Red Arrows confirm they are to fly at Wirral Air Show, organisers are told they must postpone the event.
AS the Red Arrows are confirmed as star attractions for Wirral's first air show, organisers have been told they must postpone it for a year.

Wirral Council says its events advisory group has ruled that doubts over traffic management, car parking issues and safety concerns mean it cannot go ahead this summer.


The show is being organised by Wigan-based company Jumbo Ltd, whose website announced the world-famous Red Arrows are to be joined by RAF Battle of Britain Memorial Flight and a Eurofighter Typhoon on the weekend of August 6 and August 7 for displays over the show ground at New Brighton sea front.

The show is being organised by Wigan-based company Jumbo Ltd, whose website announced the world-famous Red Arrows are to be joined by RAF Battle of Britain Memorial Flight and a Eurofighter Typhoon on the weekend of August 6 and August 7 for displays over the show ground at New Brighton sea front.


And the Arrows' official website shows they are scheduled for "Wirral Air Show, King's Promenade, New Brighton," on August 7.

But a council spokesman said: “The company has no land agreement in place and no licence to use the promenade for this event.

"The events safety advisory group, which consists of representatives from the council, police and fire service, have recommended to the organisers that their proposed air show should be postponed until 2017 to allow for all the necessary plans, essential for the safety and success of such a spectacle, to be made.

“Concerns, particularly around issues such as traffic management, car parking and event safety plans, would have been difficult to address satisfactorily with the event just five months away.

"The group confirmed its commitment to working with organisers to stage the air show next year.”

Jumbo Ltd attended the advisory group meeting and told the Globe they still believe there is a possibility the show could go ahead as advertised.

However its representative did not wish to comment other than to say the company is scheduled to take part in another meeting with the council to try to resolve the situation.

Source : click me

Typical Wirral Organising. .

OMG the mind boggles doesn't it. What do these officials get paid for definitely not for their organisational skills. Everybody was looking forward to this ...Grrrrr!!

Funny that, I have a videos and pictures of previous air shows there, what has changed?

They can't figure it out in "only" 5 MONTHS?
Who votes for these idiots? Sack the lot of them!

I think it is sour grapes because it was announced before permission was sought?

Yeah wirral Council flexing there muscles, where as if they wanted to look good they should be saying, it looks like we can do it with a few things to sort out.

Just shows how they think.
O well they may not be in those seats for much longer lol

The CAA has recently realised that many of these air shows are badly managed and dangerous and is reviewing them.

https://www.caa.co.uk/Safety-initia...blic-air-display-arrangements-in-the-UK/

11 people were killed at Shoreham so you can't really blame the council for wanting to postpone a show where they know nothing about what is happening.

They are fun when everything goes well, but I recall one wirral show where expert parachutists were supposed to land on a target laid on the ground. We were constantly assured by the commentator that "These guys can land on a sixpence..." and their amazing accuracy was unbelievable. Sadly most of them missed the target completely, one landing on the roof of a car in the carpark with huge hobnailed army boots denting the metal and scratching great gouges in the paintwork.

He was applauded to the rafters, (except by the car's owner) but it would have been a different story had he landed on high voltage power lines or an electric railway line.

Its hardly the council's fault, sounds like poor organising on the part of the company in Wigan.

Saying that, are the council just being jobsworths? What needs to be done to approve it? Surely they could fastrack it under the circumstances. Its not like air shows are rare in this part of the country where they could seek advice (Southport, anyone?)

I imagine they are too cash strapped (Thanks to the tory cuts) to pursue frivolities like this when they hardly have the money to repair roads etc.

I think the CAA has banned all new applications until they have completed their safety review.

An air show at New Brighton would attract a huge number of spectators and would bring a huge amount of business to the town on the weekend it was held. It is surely wasteful of the council to force the show to be cancelled and therefore lose the revenue and risk the show being taken elsewhere and never returning to New Brighton. Surely the sensible thing to do would be to get stuck in and ensure all the safety precautions for a safe show were in place in time for the show to be held this year and everyone would benefit, with the possibility of the show becoming an annual event.

well said indeed.

So how do you explain the popularity of Southport air show? Southport comes under Labour controlled Sefton council.

Pothole repair comes from a government fund:

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/6-billion-funding-to-tackle-potholes-and-improve-local-roads

I expect Sefton council realises that the income from air shows far exceeds expenditure.

In 2012 it cost £332,184 to stage the Southport Air Show. It received £444,491 - a profit of £112,000.

Right, so a PRIVATE company wants to stage a massive event on public land without the necessary planning, permissions or safety assessments and people are criticising the council for saying no?!
There's bound to be a degree of caution given incidents last summer, leaving aside the changes in CAA reg's yet people would rather criticise the council for ensuring it is done safely!
The company announced the event prematurely and at short notice for an event of the intended scale: forecasting 200,000 attendees with no traffic management plan, no security plan, no waste management plan etc etc.

More than likely, the company will have been in talks with the council and will have been given verbal approval in principal, unfortunately the paperwork hasn't achieved the same pace - which is not uncommon.

The CAA approval/licence for the event's safety etc is a separate issue from council approval.

There have been other large events at this location, including air shows. It is just a matter of replicating the same plans for people and traffic management.