ORGANISERS of the Port of Dartmouth Royal Regatta have lost the right to run the fairground that has been at the heart of the event for over 100 years.

South Hams Council has awarded a three-year contract to Anderton and Rowland funfairs, which will be returning to the town after an absence of several years.

The regatta committee says it is disappointed at the decision, which appears to have been made on financial grounds.

The committee believed it was important to retain control over the fairground in Mayor’s Avenue car park and now fears the overall management of the event has been compromised.

Areas of concern include control issues, insurance cover and extra work for the emergency services having to work with two organisations.

But Simon De-Vey, of Anderton and Rowland, said they would bend over backwards to work with the organising committee and put on a fair worthy of the town and regatta.

‘We want to put the past behind us, build bridges and move forward,’ he said. ‘We are not coming to muscle in and mess up.’

And he gave an undertaking the operation would be professionally run within health and safety guidelines.

Regatta chairman Ed Botterill said the committee had placed a bid for running the fairground for 2016 which it calculated was a fair price based on sound financial principles.

Last year the regatta committee won the tender with a bid of £26,350 and it is understood its offer this year was slightly more than that.

Mr Botterill said: ‘We have been informed that the decision to not award the contract for running the fairground to the Port of Dartmouth Royal Regatta committee was made on financial grounds and therefore the winning bidder must have bid a higher amount.

‘It is disappointing that South Hams Council appears to have failed to take into account our past record, not taken into account that a higher bid may lead to higher prices, both to the operators attending the fair and to the cost of the rides, and ultimately ignored the fact that not having the whole of the regatta under one management may potentially cause problems.

‘However, we recognise that we need to make the situation work and we are determined that we will still put on a terrific event.

‘There are so many events for local people and our visitors to look forward to and the regatta committee will continue do our best to make the regatta a great experience.’

Mr Botterill said the regatta committee had a history of recent success in running the funfair.

‘Following the council decision to require tenders for running of the regatta fairground in 2014, the committee made a submission in 2014 and 2015 and were successful in both years,’ he said.

‘Our bids were based on the fact we believe the fair is a major asset to and part of the tradition of the regatta.

‘Our financial aim was not to make a loss on the fairground.

‘We therefore bid what we thought was a sensible amount bearing in mind the need to exercise good financial management so they were based on ensuring we were able to recover the amount from the operators attending the fair.

‘Equally important was that we believed it was important to retain regatta committee control over the fairground as it is an integral part of the regatta and splitting it off could lead to control issues and more work for the services, such as the police, having to deal with two different organisations. We made this point in supplementary letters written in support of the bids.

‘We are certain that while under the control of the committee we have had excellent fairs in the last two years and we have had lots of positive feedback including from council officers.’

Mr De-Vey added that the Anderton and Rowland company and his family were delighted to be returning to Dartmouth.

‘Our heart is in the regatta and we want to build a good relationship with the committee in providing a fantastic fair worthy of the south west’s premier event,’ he said.

Mr De Vey said he believed the arrangements would enable the regatta committee to make savings on the high rental cost of the fairground site and he said it put the funfair operation in the hands of professional showmen and operators who would ensure health and safety guidelines and insurance conditions were adhered to.

He said Anderton and Rowland had the full backing of the Showman’s Guild and would also be supporting those showmen who had attended regatta over many years.

A council spokesman: ‘We have a duty to achieve best value in relation to the council’s assets and the mechanism of inviting tenders is a recognised way of doing this.

‘Tendering allows everyone to have a fair chance at providing services for the community. Our aim is to make sure that the best possible service is found for residents and the best value is sought by testing the market.

‘We have recently put the opportunity to operate the fair at Mayor’s Avenue car park for the Port of Dartmouth Royal Regatta out to tender and we can confirm the contract is in the process of being awarded.

‘We are working with the regatta committee and the successful tenderer to make sure the regatta is as successful this year, as it has always been. When evaluating the tenders, the council considered the value for money in terms of the price and the ability and experience of the tenderer to deliver a safe and successful event.’

We would like to make it clear that a road closure will be necessary for the RAF Typhoon display during this year’s Port of Dartmouth Royal Regatta, but restrictions will not be necessary for the Red Arrows flypast.

The road at Hillhead, Kingswear, will be shut for about 30 minutes around 6pm on Regatta Saturday, only.