Big changes to Nottingham’s Riverside Festival as council makes ‘difficult decisions’

Fireworks or live music will not feature in this summer’s Riverside Festival in Nottingham, it’s been confirmed.

Last year’s festival, which attracted thousands of people to the city’s Victoria Embankment between August 4 and August 6 last year, was the biggest free summer festival in the East Midlands.

However, visitors this summer will notice several changes to proceedings, with Nottingham City Council striving to make the event “cost-neutral”.

As well as live music and fireworks, markets and children’s entertainment have also been axed.

Last winter the city council effectively declared itself bankrupt after issuing a section 114 notice.

In March, councillors approved cuts to jobs and services aimed at plugging a £53m budget gap.

Since its inception in 1973, the Riverside Festival has gone on to become one of the most-anticipated annual events in the East Midlands.

A Nottingham City Council spokesperson said: “At a time when we face difficult decisions to make savings on our services, it is not possible, or appropriate, to spend taxpayers’ money on fireworks and live music.

“We’ve worked hard over the past few months to ensure that Riverside Festival can still go ahead this year for families – and that there is no cost to taxpayers.

“We’re trying to make good things happen for our city in the face of significant pressure on budgets.

“Our view was that it was better to scale back Riverside this time rather than cancel it.”