Chelmsford Spectacular, a major August attraction in the county, could be over.

This year's rain-sodden event, nearly cancelled at the last minute, has convinced borough council chiefs that open-air concerts of that sort at Writtle's Hylands Park, have had their day.

The loss-making event, aimed at families, and introduced in the late eighties - there have been 15 of them, with gaps in some years - do not attract the support of something like the V concert festivals, held in the park the week before and patronised by high-spending young people.

The Conservative-controlled council's cabinet was being recommended last night to approve a borough entertainments pro gramme for the next three years without the Spectacular, but including the V festivals and, importantly, the European Scout Jamboree next year and the World Scout Jamboree in 2007, which are both being held in Hylands Park.

Cabinet members were being told in a report from Cllr Christopher Kingsley, who is responsible for arts and entertainment, that this year had demonstrated the vulnerability of Hylands Park to sustained wet weather - this year's August was the wettest on record - and heavy traffic.

"Had one of the scout jamborees taken place in July 2004, followed by the V festival, it is likely that the Spectacular would have had to have been cancelled at short notice due to unsafe and unmanageable site conditions," the report adds.

Cllr Kingsley told the Chronicle: "What triggered this off was that this year was extremely difficult. We talked about cancelling the Spectacular at the last minute. We walked about the park in the middle of the week and some parts of the park were unusable. In some ways the situ ation was a big wake-up call.

"Next year, with the Euro jamboree, there would be three events. We could get into severe difficulties.

"Over the past two or three years many of us have begun to realise that open-air concerts have had their day.

"The Spectacular was aimed at families. It was not like a pop festival which attracts a lot of high spending young people. It is the council tax payer who picks up the bill in the end."

He added: "We are not saying there will never be another Spectacular, and we will have a review at the end of 2005. Members change and councils change, but we have in place a good and varied programme of special events."

Among the events in the three year programme the cabinet was being asked to approve are a series of concerts on the rear lawn of Hylands House in June 2006, with a Son et Lumiere presentation in September of that year at the house, and an ambitious Festival Chelmsford for two weeks in June, 2007, before the World Scout Jamboree. This would revolve largely around the town centre and the borough's waterways.

The Spectacular has seen a number of top names and groups including Lesley Garrett, Take That, Chris de Burgh, Michael Ball as well as stars of the 1960s.

Published Tuesday December 21, 2004

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