Wilde Ones, the company who produced the last ten Pride in Brighton and Hove events on Preston Park, have withdrawn their Pride rescue plan for this year's Pride event.

Dean Parker from Wilde Ones said:
"It is with great regret that Wilde Ones must now withdraw the offer of its rescue plan for Brighton Pride.

"The plan was released in November 2009, and at that time it was feasible for Wilde Ones to take on the production of the festival (as it has done for the past ten years), as well as the extra areas of responsibility as proposed by the plan, most notably the procurement of sponsorship.

"However, three months have now passed. With our commitments for the forthcoming season, Wilde Ones no longer have the time or resources available to be able to take over the running of the entire event at this stage, and so the rescue plan is being withdrawn.

"Despite the announcement that Pride will be going ahead in 2010, there is still a great deal of uncertainty as to what attractions will be on the park at Pride this year.

"Because of this, and the public support for keeping the previous attractions (via the ‘Save Brighton Pride As We Know It’ Facebook page), Wilde Ones worked on the idea of a Pride after-party to take place on Madeira Drive.

"This would have been a commercial dance event to which which Wild Fruit, Popstarz, Girl Action, the Men’s Tent and Revenge cabaret areas would have been invited to participate. The event was to run from 4pm until midnight on the Saturday, and tickets would have been in the region of £10.

"A second day of entertainment would have been provided on the Sunday. This day’s activities would run from midday until 8pm, and in addition to the attractions above, the Calabash and Women’s Performance areas were to be invited to attend.  Tickets were to be priced around £4, from which a £1 donation would have been donated to charity. The capacity was hoped to be 20,000.

"Unfortunately, our proposal fell at the first hurdle. Despite the ticket price of £10 on the Saturday, Brighton & Hove City Council saw the event as a rival to the ‘official’ Brighton Pride and refused to allow it to happen, stating that they did not have the will nor the resources to cover both events.

"Wilde Ones has tried every way it can to provide the LGBT community of Brighton & Hove with an event for 2010 that includes all of the attractions the community has grown to love over the previous 10 years. Unfortunately our offers have been refused every step of the way.

"We are extremely disappointed but we can do no more. However, we would like to thank everybody who has supported the rescue plan, as well everyone who voted for us in the RealBrighton straw poll. We greatly appreciate it."

A spokesperson for Brighton Council said:
“The council is supporting Pride in these difficult times with a £20,000 grant. The council has limited resources, however, and cannot support every venture. It’s sad that Wilde Ones have decided to withdraw their support for the Pride Festival this year, but the city can look forward to a full programme of major events, including Pride, the Brighton Festival, Festival Fringe and the Brighton Marathon.”

 
Chris Cooke, Chair of St.James's Area Local Action Team, said:
"With the event at Preston Park closing late afternoon, we are going to be left with the situation that tens of thousands of people will be drifting back into the city and wanting to continue the carnival atmosphere both that evening and into the next day.  It is only natural that they will gravitate towards the "gay village" in the St.James's area, and that is where we will have one major problem.
 
"With nothing officially organised and with the council's rather short-sighted view of saying 'no' to any events down on Madeira Parade I foresee nothing short of chaos. There will be no planned street closures, security or facilities for such an influx of people all of whom will be wanting to party and party hard.
 
"Therefore we urgently need a re-think as to what exactly is going to be happening post-Pride event. People will simply not be disappearing home after the park event, as I believe is the council's current thinking. Think again I say.
 
"The whole event this year in my mind is looking just a little shambolic and that is such a shame. Are we too late to put it all right ?"