The cost of asking people to make a donation for this year’s Worcester Show was more than double the amount the council actually received in donations, it has been revealed.

Worcester City Council has said it spent £7,000 extra on measures to accept donations for this year’s Worcester Show but only received £2,900 from visitors.

The cash-strapped council had intended to introduce a controversial £2 entrance fee for the family event in August, but councillors opted to scrap the move in favour of accepting voluntary donations.

The council said the extra thousands were spent on security staff, extra fencing and a marquee.

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The council said it “could be argued the approach helped maintain a high level of attendance.”

The Worcester Show, which is held every August, attracts as many as 20,000 visitors and includes everything from market stalls to flower and vegetable competitions, live music and performances, dog shows and sports.

For next year’s event to break even, the council would have to charge £4 to all over 16s and need at least 13,400 people to turn up.

If a charge was introduced, a £3 fee would still see the event run at a £13,800 loss with £2 and £1 fees still resulting in £27,000 and £40,500 losses respectively.

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Using the council’s figures, 27,000 people would have to attend and pay £2 for the event to break even.

The council’s officers have recommended the £2 fee should be introduced next year but it will be down to the policy and resources committee to decide when it meets in the Guildhall next Monday (October 16).

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

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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.

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.

Figures reveal this year’s show cost nearly £11,000 more to run compared to the 2022 event – rising to £47,800 – but income also increased from £25,400 to £40,000.

This year’s shortfall, which will be covered by the council, was £7,700.

This article was corrected to state that only over-16s would be charged admission for next year's Worcester Show under the council's latest proposals.