Was the Feel Good Festival worth almost £100k?

Lynn Collins

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Two weeks ago Rochdale town centre was filled with food stalls, live bands, and street theatre for this year’s Feel Good Festival.

Figures obtained by Rochdale Online show that £99,600 was spent on the festival.

£70,000 of this money came from Rochdale Borough Council, £20,000 from Rochdale Town Centre Management and a further £9,600 from sponsors.

The money was spent on infrastructure, artists, insurance and marketing with a total of £16,800 was spent on marketing the event.

Reporter Kevin Burke took to the streets of Castleton to find out what residents think about the money spent – was it worth it?

Jimmy Rodgers said:“I didn’t really hear about it - I didn’t know when it was and I only found out about it when it was happening. I’m surprised it cost so much - I can’t see why it was so expensive and surely the money could have been better spent.”

Lynn Collins offered a more nuanced view. “The £70,000 from the council must have been earmarked,” she said.

“But it’s a lot of money in the current climate, especially with frontline services being cut and school extensions being halted.”

Ms Collins wondered how much local businesses had benefited. “Lots of people came for it and it’s certainly worth spending money to promote Rochdale and put it on the map. But couldn’t the money have been better spent promoting the town centre rather than a festival? They should be supporting local businesses. If the Feel Good Festival brings in investment then it’s worth it, but that’s probably unlikely.

“£170,000 has been cut from Rochdale’s ‘Supporting People’ budget and the money would be better spent here.”

Francis Mitchenson agrees, he said: “The money could have been spent on something better. We’ve got enough money to spend on bands but not enough to help the homeless. It was only one night of bands but they could have helped vulnerable people for years.

“They could have spent the money to buy a property for Rochdale’s homeless, or to run a soup kitchen around Broadfield Park. Petras used to do this but they pulled the plug on it.”

Mr Mitchenson was in Rochdale Town Centre when the festival was on he said: “I’ve never seen it so packed. There were a lot of people there and it must have promoted Rochdale.”

One man who doesn’t want to be named, said: “The country’s bankrupt and we’re spending money on junk.”

“The Government is telling councils to save, so they’re offering people ‘voluntary severance’ but can still spend money on this.”

Angela Walker is disgusted by the amount of money spent, she said: “There are so many homeless in Rochdale and they spent the money on that. It won’t have earned the money back - no way. They could have run a cheaper event - the kids are on school holidays and a few rides and some face painting would have been better.”

Jay Costigan thought differently. “I didn’t hear about it,” she said, “but it sounds like it was something nice for the young ones.” She smiled. “I just hope they behaved themselves.”