19
Jun
Circus Vegas accuses council in Stray mud row
Circus Vegas has accused North Yorkshire Council of failing to inform it of the location of water pipes before it arrived on the Stray — which led to a burst main that reduced the land to a muddy mess.
A section of the 200-acres of common land between Knaresborough Road and Oatlands Drive suffered what the Stray Defence Association described as a “shocking level of damage” after the travelling circus departed last weekend.
Tyre marks were visible and large swathes of grass had been replaced by mud in scenes reminiscent of the 2019 UCI Road World Championships, when a rain-hit fan zone on the Stray required a £130,000 repair bill.
The Stray Ferret published an article about the damage on Monday. Since then, both the council and Circus Vegas have been in touch.
A spokesperson for Circus Vegas, which performed in Harrogate from Wednesday to Sunday, said:
The council has a statutory duty to inform us where the water pipes run. But they failed to do so and when we arrived and put down our stakes one of them burst a pipe.
The burst mains
How the Stray looked on Monday.
The spokesperson said the burst pipe bubbled away underground for some time until it became apparent there was a serious problem.
They added council workers were slow to act when they arrived to investigate.
The spokesperson said:
We take great pride in the places we go to. Numerous people told us the Stray had been swamped for months.
When we were there, it became very swampy and was a danger to anyone walking through. We did our best to cope and kept an area cordoned off but this was the responsibility of the council.
We tour for 11 months of the year and this was by far the worst conditions we have had for a long time.
This was Circus Vegas’ first performance in Harrogate for about 15 years and the spokesperson said there were currently no plans to return.
The Stray Ferret put the circus’ claims to the council.
Jonathan Clubb, its head of parks and ground, said:
We are aware of the damage caused on Sunday as the circus came off site, but the very wet weather hampered their departure.
We work closely with all event organisers to ensure they consider the implications on the site from the beginning to the end of events and hold a bond with them in case of any repairs required.
We are currently agreeing what needs to be done and the event organiser is engaging their own contractor to commence repairs.
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