THE Bay Festival was "undermined from the outset" by the Isle of Man Government according to organisers.
In a damning statement released earlier today a spokesperson for the festival claimed the government's "policy of no-cooperation towards the festival" hindered the planning and affected confidence in the event.
A spokesperson for the Bay Festival said: "We believe last year the festival was undermined from the outset when the Manx Government took totally unnecessary and aggressive action against a sister company when a structured solution had already been agreed.
"The direct consequential flow by association through extensive negative publicity came at a very crucial time in the festival’s planning and distracted us as we dealt with the aftermath and the associated negative headlines.
"This also introduced substantial doubt as to whether the festival would actually go ahead which affected confidence in the event.
"Equally because of the events that surrounded Street Heritage we faced a situation that the departments of government we approached for assistance told us they had a 'policy of no co-operation towards the festival' which meant this further hindered the planning stage.
"For instance the Welcome Centre at the Sea Terminal refused to sell our tickets or display our leaflets etc due to this apparent 'government policy'.
"Also when we had requests to cover costs from national papers and periodicals to cover the festival for the benefit of 'IOM plc' the government again refused assistance on the same basis of 'no co-operation'.
"We also believe that due to the ineffective leadership by the Manx government that the economic scene has been set for the Island's current lack of confidence and it has instilled unnecessary economic woes.
"This in turn has caused the uncertainty that has had an adverse affect on ticket sales as people lack confidence in the future."
isleofman.com has approached the Isle of Man Government for a response to this statement which we will publish as soon as it is received.
