Councillor Gary Ridley, the Conservative Spokesman for City Development, has welcomed guarantees given to him by the Leader of Coventry City Council that the Godiva Festival will continue beyond 2012.
There had been uncertainty about the future of the popular event as the City Council has promised a review of the events programme. The review follows on from the City Council taking direct responsibility for running the city’s events programme after taking the decision to wind up events management company CV One which has been staging the event.
At a meeting of the Council’s Cabinet on Tuesday 15 March, the Leader of the Council promised Cllr Ridley that the Festival would continue regardless of the outcome of any review. Until the intervention of the Leader officers would only say that they would hold a public consultation on the review.
Speaking after the meeting Gary said: “The Godiva Festival is a really well loved, popular event and it is especially important to have it in difficult economic times. Until today I had been unable to get assurances from the Council that the Festival was safe but now the Council’s Leader has guaranteed its future which will be a relief to many of its fans.”
The Festival first appeared as a three day Festival in 1998 and attracts over 75,000 visitors each year. It has played host to several big name bands including Kasabian, The Fratellis, Shed Seven, Mercury Rev and The Enemy. A comedy tent, kid's tent, main arena, fair, craft market and green space attracts families as well as music fans.