An increasing number of Emsworth’s residents are questioning the decision to scrap the town’s highly successful annual festival held in September of each year since 2001. Some are questioning the veracity chairman Lulu Bowerman’s reasons for her decision and the propriety of her  involvement in the new food event “A Thought for Food”.There is a substantial body of evidence based on the festival’s own research and feedback that residents a majority of the town’s businesses are wholeheartedly supportive of the festival and that each year the festival brings over £200,000 into the local economy which is further boosted by returning visitors at other times during the year.Serious doubts have been raised about the proposed quarterly annual Sunday food markets to be located in the South Street car park.

 Why replace a unique and highly successful event with food markets which nowadays are two a penny? 

  The proposed event will neither attract the high quality producers that came to the food festival nor the number of visitors to shop in the town’s retail outlets. 

As the organisation of these markets is to be outsourced to a commercial company, Pdgrow Events Ltd. What control will the Food Festival have over the type and quality of the stall holders? 

 Such markets held on a Sunday will be unviable and may actually discourage visitors from returning to Emsworth.

Further, the decision has been made in ‘secret’ with a total lack of transparency. The relevant minutes of key meetings have not been published, the festival organising committee have not been involved in the decision making process, the festival’s constitution has been ignored and the Business Association’s involvement is questionable (the latter organisation has previously been vigorous in its opposition to any sort of market in Emsworth).The directors of the Festival have ‘siphoned’ off’ the festival’s substantial cash reserves into a separate fund for community development.  Could this be for the proposed re-development of South Street a project that is being promoted by Havant Borough Council and the Emsworth Town Partnership and supported by Brendan Gibb-Grey (chairman of the EBA and borough councillor) who is“…..unusually enthusiastic about this I think it is a very good idea”([1] The News16 July 2008)?
 Again, the decision to make this change to the festival’s financial management was made without reference to the organising committee and it is neither known whom is entitled to authorise expenditure from this account nor what criteria exist to approve the allocation of funds.Responses to the scrapping of the festival and the proposed food markets on the town’s website [2] www.emsworthonline.co.uk have been almost entirely negative.There are now demands that the existing chairman should resign to be replaced by someone who would organise the festival as the successful event that it has become and as the majority of residents and businesses wish it to be!