Oie Voaldyn organiser says commissioners objected to sponsors

This year's event was cancelled after the local authority said it wouldn't support the sponsorships

The organiser of a festival that celebrates the Celtic and Viking culture in Peel says the event had to be cancelled because Peel Town Commissioners objected to the sponsors.

Oie Voaldyn usually takes place in May on the beach and attracts around 6,000 people.

It's believed to generate around £60,000 for the town.  

John Shakespeare says the lack of support from the local authority - over the collaboration with Fynoderee and Bushys - has now stopped it from going ahead. 

Mr Shakespeare says the commissioners had declined to support their licence applications.

Local Democracy Reporter Emma Draper has been speaking to him: 

Peel Commissioners say the board has always been supportive of the Oie Voaldyn festival and increased the amount of funding it was offering it this year to £6000.

But it claimed the town’s small businesses wouldn’t get the same amount of footfall from visitors as the main sponsors would.

The authority said it had concerns using ratepayers' money, which includes business rates, to fund an event supported by two other Island businesses.

Peel Commissioners confirmed it would have continued to offer administration and labour workforce should the event have gone ahead.