THE future of Clitheroe Food Festival could be in doubt if councillors fail to back the event.

Figures released by Ribble Valley Council show the festival, which was run solely by the local authority this year, made a loss for the second year in a row.

Council bosses attribute much of that to a fall in sponsorship, which has plummeted from £27,900 in 2015 to £8,500 this year.

In 2016, the festival made the council more than £5,000 but last year, the festival cost  £8,177 while this year it cost ran at a £2,660 deficit after income and expenditure was taken into account.

It had been expected to make a loss in the region of £15,000 because no sponsorship money had been budgeted for.

There remains £15,137 in the earmarked reserve to fund future food festivals.

The report, authored by head of cultural and leisure services, Mark Beveridge, asks councillors to consider whether the local authority should agree to undertake the organisation of the food festival event in 2019.

He said: "It is anticipated at this stage that such costs would be similar to those of this year, with an ongoing requirement for sponsors to mitigate the cost falling on council taxpayers.

"The Clitheroe Food Festival contributes to our promotion of the area as a tourist destination and in our economic development role.

"Although there is limited hard evidence to support the economic impact of the event on the town.

"For some in the local business community it is a boom day and for others possibly one of their quietest of the year.

"The true economic impacts of the event for the area are difficult to determine without a full study, the cost of which would be beyond the scope of the present food festival budget.

"Anecdotal evidence suggests that the festival gets visitors from further afield than the immediate areas, e.g. Manchester, Wales and Cumbria.

"However there is no reliable evidence to indicate the numbers from these areas.

"It is undoubtedly busy, how much more so than a normal Saturday shopping day is not possible to say.

"It is known that stall holders at the festival enjoy brisk trading and many end the day having sold out of the stock they bring.

"The Clitheroe Food Festival continues to exist because the borough council provides the staff resources for it to continue.

"There has been no indication that any other body or the private sector wish to take on the logistical issues with staging the largest one-day event in the borough.

"Going forward as a wholly run council event, it will be the largest single event the council runs annually and is a large commitment in terms of staff and financial resources.

"The only real alternative to the council running the event is for an event company to be engaged to run it on behalf of the council.

"The costs of which could be as much as £25,000, but the council would still have to foot the costs of staging the event, the event company would simply manage the process and provide some staff on the day to help organise and ensure the festival was safely staged."

Members are asked to note the report and decide if the 2019 food festival should go ahead as a council-run event.