Splendour Festival at Nottingham's Wollaton Park will return in 2025 - council agrees five-year contract

Nottingham’s famous Splendour Festival is set to return from next year after the city council and organisers agreed a new five-year contract. 

According to documents prepared for next Tuesday’s Commissioning and Procurement Executive Committee, the city council and DHP Family will sign a contract guaranteeing the festival’s return between 2025 and 2029. 

The contract is worth £11,788,000, which is based on estimated turnover over five years. 

This summer’s Splendour Festival, which has been held at Wollaton Park since 2008, was cancelled due to issues surrounding the tendering process. 

A formal tendering process was launched for this year’s festival, but following a disagreement between the city council and organisers DHP Family, the 2024 event was cancelled. 

In a statement released at the start of the year, organisers said: “Last May, Nottingham City Council initiated a festival tender process for Wollaton Park, which regrettably has encountered numerous delays from the council’s side.

“Delivering a high-profile event like Splendour requires more than a year’s worth of planning, and these delays mean we have not been left with enough time to put on the festival.”

Documents show that the council considered discontinuing the festival, but ultimately decided against that course of action. 

The document says: “This would result in a loss of income to the Council as revenue is currently received from this event. 

“This is a popular attraction as part of Nottingham’s annual events and entertainment programme and has created positive recognition, economic and social benefit for the city. 

“This would be lost or put at risk if these were discontinued. The cancellation of the event in 2024 has already seen a detrimental reputational impact on the City alongside a loss of income to the Council.”

Alternative options, including re-tendering the contract and delivering the event in-house, were also considered. 

Last year’s Splendour Festival was headlined by Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds, Rudimental and Madness.