| Topic: | Re:Re:Sad news about Brentford Festival cancellation | |
| Posted by: | Phil Andrews | |
| Date/Time: | 20/02/12 19:28:00 |
| £6000 is an awful lot of money for a voluntary group to find. To a local authority however it is peanuts. Even in the present economic climate. As Lead Member for Communities in 2009/10 and as Chair of the Isleworth & Brentford Area Committee before that Paul Fisher in particular found sums of money for local causes from a number of sources which dwarfed this sum, and did so on a very regular basis. Whilst all of the projects concerned were deserving many of them were not as well-known or as widely supported as the Brentford Festival. If this event does not go ahead in this borough without prohibitive demands for money being made it is because the political leadership in the borough does not want it to go ahead, pure and simple. It would be an utter disgrace and a source of great civic shame for Hounslow if it were to have to move to Ealing, welcome though that borough's kind offer is. Let us hope this is all a game being played that is intended to end with Hounslow stepping in at the eleventh hour and "saving" the Festival from its own threat, possibly prompted by its need to feel in control of the whole situation and to be the arbiter of whether or not community events go ahead or have to be cancelled. It would not be in the least surprising if this were to prove to be the case. In the meantime let's press ahead with plans to draw attention to the scandal with a series of public protest events. It worked with Isleworth Library and St. John's Coummunity Centre, I promise everybody involved it will work just as well in Brentford. |