Police's £15k Royal Show bill

The annual agricultural show was washed out in its first year at a new site in Myerscough, near Preston, in July without a single day of the event taking place.

The new chairman of show organisers the Royal Lancashire Agricultural Society (RLAS), Wendy George, branded the event "a debacle" and said it had not yet decided whether the show would go ahead next year.

The figures, released after a Freedom of Information request by the Evening Post, show they spent 8,446 on planning ahead for the three-day event and a further 5,732 on the opening day.

That included 184.71 on drinks and biscuits, 585 to hire a portable building and 5,732 on staffing.

The cost to the RLAS of organising the show was 403,000, although the police did not charge them for their services.

Miss George, who replaced Gordon Roberts after he resigned as chairman last month, said she "did not" think the cost of policing would be an affordable bill for the society.

She said: "We had no part in the policing arrangements and if we did we would not have had that amount of people involved.

"We employ our own security staff, which we would have to up quite massively after the last debacle, so probably the police presence, if we had to negotiate it, would not be the size it was."

On next year's show, she said: "At the moment we have lots of things we are thinking over and hopefully the show will go ahead. I cannot say one way or the other at the moment."

She added that Mr Roberts had always intended to step down from the society after this year's show.

Policing costs attracted controversy ahead of the three-day show, after opponents to the new showground in nearby Barton hit out at the force's refusal to charge the RLAS, a registered charity, for their services.

Coun Ken Hudson, leader of Preston Council who represents the area, said: "It seems an awful lot of money for what could not have been more than a paper exercise, as the show never took place. I am sure the people of Barton and Myerscough would be upset to see 15,000 of taxpayers' money wasted."

Organisers admitted that after this year's wash-out, the future of the show was in doubt.

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