Woofstock UK organisers have failed to get the support of Dartmouth Town Council for their dog show.

But they are determined to press on with plans to bring the festival to the town next year, despite being upset by their “dismissive treatment” and mayor Cllr Richard Cooke’s comment at this week’s council meeting after they had left: “Crufts have left, now we can get on with planning.”

Organisers Heather Nesbitt and Carol Bevan told the Chronicle: “While we are saddened at the dismissive treatment of not only ourselves but other members of the public by the mayor and town councillors, we are not surprised given their behaviour not only recently but also at last year’s town council meeting. We were at the meeting to ask for the support of the town council, the very people who are elected to represent the town and its interests. We are aware they are not the decision-makers in relation to Coronation Park but their support for Woofstock UK would have meant we had confidence going forward.

“The town council meeting was clearly set up to silence us. This is abundantly clear, not only those who attended but to others who have watched the recording of the meeting.”The mayor’s inappropriate comment about ‘Crufts’ was not what is expected of someone who is elected to public office. We found it insulting and demeaning.

“We have worked tirelessly to promote the town through films, with the support of John Walker, have brought trade to the town and a new energy that was evident on the week leading up to Woofstock UK as well as on the day and yet this is not enough to gain the support of the town council.

“However, we will not be silenced or dismissed. We will continue to be heard and move forward with the support of the people of Dartmouth, the businesses of Dartmouth and the surrounding area, the district councillors and the visitors who came to Dartmouth for Woofstock UK. We cannot thank people enough for their support and determination to see Woofstock UK flourish.

“We will return to Coronation Park on August 4, 2018, with the support of the district councillors and subject to us receiving a letter of confirmation from South Hams District Council.

“While we do not have the support of the town council, we do have the support of Dartmouth, which is far more valuable to us.”

They expressed their thanks to Cllr Steve Smith for speaking up for them at the meeting and to the members of the public who showed up in support.

Before the meeting, the town council had responded positively to a request to put the Woofstock UK dog festival on the meeting’s agenda but then reversed its decision without an explanation.

Ms Nesbitt and Ms Bevan, who had already applied to the district council to hold Woofstock UK 2018 on Coronation Park, wrote to the town clerk to ask if the town council would give its backing to the event.

Although owned by the district council, Coronation Park is part of a package of property held by SHDC that may be transferred to Dartmouth.

The town council’s opposition to Woofstock UK 2017 was a disappointment to its organisers and, despite the success of the event, they have been seeking clarification of a rumoured change in the council’s view before committing the event to Dartmouth in future.

The email response from the council was initially that it would be considered as an agenda item but later, following a discussion with the mayor, it was moved to ‘correspondence’ and was not an agenda item in its own right.

Lucy Willetts, during public question time, asked the mayor: “I wanted to ask if the council is prepared to have a vote as to whether they are in support of Woofstock UK going ahead next year or not?”

In response to Ms Willett’s question, Cllr Cooke said: “Woofstock is coming up on the agenda under ‘Commun­ications with the Mayor” in a couple of items time and it will be possible for us to have discussion occur then. Is that all right for now?”

When the meeting did arrive at the agenda item, town clerk Charlie Pritchard-Williams summarised the email from Ms Nesbitt, as follows: “Woofstock have submitted an application to SHDC to use Coronation Park for Woofstock 2018. They are aware that Dartmouth Town Council may be taking ownership of Coronation Park and would like to ask if the council will support the return next year whether the change of ownership takes place or not.”

The mayor followed saying: “What you can say about this, is that regardless of whether we take Coronation Park over or not, if there has been a reservation or a rental agreement with Woofstock for Coronation Park for 2018, we would be honouring that because there are a number of leases and rental agreements outstanding and part of the heads of agreement of taking over this is that we will respect all previous leases and rentals that South hams has agreed to.”

Cllr Smith asked: “Do I read into that, that you are fully supportive of Woofstock 2018, because they need to know now?” Cllr Cooke answered: “They will need to contact South Hams” and on further pressing about whether the reservation would be accepted, the mayor added: “No one has suggested we shouldn’t”.

The council meeting moved on until Ms Nesbitt interrupted. Supported by Cllr Smith, she attempted to get the council to discuss Woofstock UK, as the mayor had earlier suggested it would.

Cllr Smith said this was the reason why he had asked if the council was fully in favour of Woofstock UK, so a vote could be taken. To this the mayor responded: “We can’t do that.”

Cllr Hilary Bastone, district councillor, stepped in. He alluded to what happened last year, that Woofstock UK’s application was referred at South Hams to the three Dartmouth district councillors [Rosemary Rowe, Jonathan Hawkins and himself] and they would support the event again. Following a brief round of applause, the mayor moved on to the next item without further comment but after the majority of members of the public left the meeting, Cllr Cooke said: “Crufts has left now, we can get on with planning.”

Following the meeting, Cllr David Gent said: “The people in the gallery behaved as a disgraceful mob. Most of them did not listen as they were too busy talking amongst themselves.”