Sefton Council staff who worked on the Southport Air Show will be thanked ‘for the hard work that they do’ says Sefton Council’s Cabinet Member for Regeneration and Skills, Cllr Marion Atkinson.
Cllr Atkinson told members at a full Council meeting at Bootle Town Hall last night: ” I, for one, will be writing to those staff thank them for the work that they do.”
The declaration came amidst a heated exchange about the 2023 Air Show.
Councillors had tabled several questions over apparent organisation and parking issues at last weekend’s display.
A written response to a question asking if a summary report identifying “difficulties and challenges” encountered at the show would be produced confirmed that “A report […] including both success and lessons learned from the event” would be presented to the Overview and Scrutiny committee.
Councillor John Pugh asked if the Council would consider issuing compensation to those who missed the show, to which Cllr Atkinson refused.
Cllr Pugh asked: “There has been questions from disappointed members of the public who left in good time and through no fault of their own missed portions of the show. In principle would the Council be open to claims of compensation due to failures of the organisation and administration?”
Cllr Atkinson responded: “There’s no failures in the administration, Councillor Pugh. It’s not right, what you’ve just said. We’ve got staff who were verbally abused. We’ve got staff in the Tourism Events team who have delivered 15 Air Shows between them. They took a lot of criticism. They are a hard-working team. We should be proud to have such commitment from staff. I, for one, will be writing to those staff thank them for the work that they do. It’s not just one event, it’s a number of them.
“In relation to compensation: our advice was always ‘leave early’. So no I don’t consider it appropriate to offer compensation.”
Sefton Council did not respond to queries from OTS News about when the decision was taken to close the beach car park, nor what contingency plans were in place, instead repeating a previous statement: “It is unfortunate that some people experienced queues when visiting Southport Airshow on Saturday.
“There was a huge influx of visitors on Saturday, which is usually spread out over the two-day event, as fantastic weather was forecast for Saturday while storms were forecast for Sunday.
“The ground team did the best they could to get people parked and into the event as quickly and smoothly as possible, and in advance of the event our communications did actively encourage use of alternative means of transport to cars.
“As is the nature of all air shows, cancellations can occur at short notice and the Council shares the disappointment felt by visitors that The Red Arrows were unable to deliver their display due to weather conditions.
“However it is clear that Southport’s businesses benefited greatly from the event and has boosted the local economy.”
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