Labour group leader councillor Duncan Townson has questioned the sustainability of Ayr’s International Air Show after a warning of a huge overspend.
Jane Bradley, South Ayrshire Council’s Director of Strategic Change and Communities, said that costs had risen in certain areas, citing a rise in toilet provision, following feedback from the public, from £16,000 in 2023 to £87,000 this year.
She added that officers had revised a projected £400,000 overspend down to £240,000.
In a question at the final South Ayrshire Council meeting of the year, Cllr Townson asked: “The International Ayr Show – Festival of Flight 2024 was a huge success in terms of numbers of people visiting from outwith the local authority, where we saw huge numbers travelling by car, rail and bus, seeing what must have been a boost to regional transport footfall numbers.
“With such a successful event for the council, with its ability to draw people in from across the country and beyond, this question is looking at the sustainability of the Ayr Show, and the numbers that help support this as an ongoing feature on the annual calendar of events.
“Therefore, what were the financial benefits to local businesses and local economy, like for like, in 2024 compared to last year (2023) the first year of the Ayr Show and the year before (2022) when the Ayr Show was not in operation?
The officer’s response stated: “An economic impact assessment is currently underway which will demonstrate the financial benefits to local businesses.
“The economic impact assessment for the 2023 air show will also be presented to the Service and Performance Panel in January.”
He also asked whether the budget set for the show would need to be revised to take into account the data from the first two years of the event and asked whether the show is self sustaining and whether it could provide added income to support other projects.
He was told: “Once we have the data finalised for the 2024 event we will be able to identify any budget gap. We also have other measures planned for next year’s event which will reduce expenditure and that will have to be taken into consideration before we determine what any future funding should be.
“We hope to move to a self-sustaining model over the next few years but at present we are not generating additional revenue that could be used elsewhere.”
Cllr Townson concluded: “Is the Ayr Show best value for South Ayrshire Council going forwards?”
Officers responded: “Based on the economic impact assessment from last year and the increase on numbers this year which would also suggest an increased economic impact the Air Show could be considered as providing best value.”
Cllr Townson followed up on his formal questions by raising his concerns about the lack of information.
He said: “I’m just concerned about the answer mainly because the cabinet was appraised during a budget update on November 26, that there was a potential overspend of £400,000 on the air show.
“As a supporter of the air show, I just want to make sure that we are on track to make it, that we are moving swiftly towards being self-sustaining.
Ms Bradley said: “There was an update to the financial paper that had included that figure. I am now working with a figure of £240,000.
“One of the real issues we’ve got with the air show is there are literally hundreds of invoices and purchase orders associated with it.
“There’s also income that comes in after the event because we get percentage income from various other sales and sometimes it takes quite a number of months for all these things to be settled.
“It was further complicated this year because a lot of their assets were shared with an air show that was taking place in Ireland the following day.
“Some of our costs this year were hugely more expensive than last year and partly that was down to the particular procurement route that we took and partly that was due to certain services or providers increasing their costs dramatically.
“We’ve taken steps for the next years to look at alternative procurement routes and other ways in which we can generate additional income.”
Don’t miss the latest Ayrshire headlines –sign up to our free daily newsletter