THE council received just under £3,000 in donations during the Worcester Show following a U-turn which saw plans for a controversial charge scrapped.

As much as £2,900 was contributed by visitors to the free August event held at Worcester’s Pitchcroft Racecourse according to Worcester City Council.

It is far below the £9,000 the cash-strapped council was expecting when it planned to introduce a mandatory £2 fee just ten weeks before the start of this year’s show.

The event, which is held every August, regularly attracts 10,000 visitors and includes everything from market stalls to flower and vegetable competitions, live music and performances, dog shows and sports.

Worcester City Council had been pushing ahead with introducing a £2 entry fee for the family-friendly and currently free Worcester Show as one way of helping with its worrying budget issues – a move it believed would cause “minimal” issues for visitors.

The charge would have been issued to all adults with under-16s still allowed to enter for free.

But when the money-saving scheme was put to a vote, councillors instead scrapped the move to introduce an entrance charge altogether in favour of a voluntary donation.

Council bosses revealed that £2,900 was received in donations during the show at a policy and resources committee meeting in the Guildhall on Tuesday (September 5).

Cllr Mel Allcott said the scrapping of the entrance fee in favour of a donation was an “abject disaster” and a “ridiculous decision.”

“We could have paid for the equivalent of one or two staff for a year with that amount [raised from an entrance fee],” she said.

“And I hope that we, as a council, make a better decision next year. I know the original cost we were looking at was £2 per person and I think, even with the cost of living crisis, that’s less than a cup of coffee now.”

When revealing its intention to bring in a charge for the show, the council said last August’s event was run at a nearly £12,000 loss, with the city’s taxpayers underwriting the shortfall.

The council had then looked to introduce a new fee that would, despite rising costs, double income and return a £9,000 surplus.