The Marlborough Arts Association, the charity which organises Marlborough’s annual International Jazz Festival, stayed away from today’s meeting (September 23) at Wiltshire Council headquarters in Trowbridge which had been called by Wiltshire Councillor Philip Whitehead to discuss arrangements for the 2016 Festival.
Councillor Whitehead is the Wiltshire Council cabinet member for highways and transport and he had made the meeting a condition of his decision to order the road closure for the Saturday of this summer’s Festival. The retailers have been unhappy at the road closure’s affect on their business and wanted it to start much later in the day.
However, the meeting went ahead with representatives of Marlborough Town Council and of the Marlborough High Street Retailers Association. Councillor Whitehead told Marlborough News Online that both these parties had “talked freely and openly – the atmosphere was excellent.”
“It was a very good and constructive meeting – the retailers and the Town Council were both very sensible in their approach.”
The Marlborough Arts Association had told Councillor Whitehead they did not think the meeting would be constructive. They would prefer to have a one-to-one meeting with the Councillor.
A meeting between the Marlborough Arts Association and Councillor Whitehead will be held sometime in the first two weeks of October.
This is the second year running that the Marlborough Arts Association or its Jazz Festival Committee have not attended a so-called ‘wash-up’ meeting after the Festival is over to consider how arrangements could be changed or improved.
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