Solo withdraws its request for fee changes to host the Isle Of Wight Festival

Isle of Wight Festival 2016

Thursday 9th to Sunday 12th June 2016
Seaclose Park, Newport, Isle of Wight, PO30 2DN, England MAP
£195 with camping

Daily capacity: 90,000

Last updated: Tue 31st May 2016

Ahead of a planned meeting on Thursday with Isle of Wight Council organisers of the Isle of Wight Festival the issue of reduced fees being charged for the location of the festival will not now be discussed. The council were considering reducing its fee by £42,000 to £13,000 in exchange for giving Solo more responsibility for security and other duties in an attempt to reduce its costs. All in an attempt to keep the ticket price as low as possible, rather than because the festival was in any kind of financial difficulty.

However the meeting between council and promoter will instead look at exploring other options to reduce spiralling costs of the event at Seaclose Park without hitting festival fans with a ticket price hike, and keep the festival which is estimated to bring £10 million each year to the Island economy.

An IW Council spokesperson, said to the Isle Of Wight County Press (here) "The IW Council has worked closely with Solo Promoters Ltd over the past 15 years to facilitate the Isle of Wight Festival, which generates around £10 million per year to the Island’s economy.

"The council was approached by Solo with a request to vary the terms to its current agreement to use Seaclose Park - and has a responsibility to its residents to consider the request openly and transparently.

"As a result a report was due to be considered by the council’s executive on Thursday October 13 containing a wide range of background information to help inform councillors in their decision making.

"The council would like to make it clear that it has not, as reported, said that ticket sales have decreased. In fact ticket sales have seen a significant increase in recent years.

"However, the report does make it clear that the costs of staging the festival are increasing and as such Solo incur many additional running costs each year beyond simply booking the acts.

"The report sought to make it clear that Solo has two choices regarding the increasing costs – to reduce its running costs or to raise ticket prices.

"Solo has always been committed to offering their festival goers the best value for money and do not believe it’s fair that the fans are the ones left to contribute to rising costs, hence its approach to the council to vary the terms of the current agreement.

"As a result of the incorrect media inferences about the event, Solo has withdrawn its request to the council and will work with it to look at other alternatives to help reduce the costs of staging the event."

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