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By local democracy reporter Emma Draper

Less than 100 people provided feedback about this year’s Ramsey Sprintfest.

 

The event is held during the TT fortnight, and is run by the commissioners, with live music from local bands alongside the Ramsey Sprint.

 

The commissioners allocated £20,000 for the running of Sprintfest and £14,541 has been spent.

 

The local authority is also waiting for a £6000 grant from the Department for Enterprise.

 

A survey for businesses got just 10 responses while a residents and visitors survey had 68.

The majority of the residents and visitors surveyed attended the event.

 

Twenty-nine people said they would rank the event ‘very good’, five people rated it as ‘very bad’ and just under 80 per cent said it had met their expectations.

 

The majority of respondents said they were satisfied with the music line up with people also rating the stage, and sound quality, as ‘very good’.

 

Twenty-seven people said the event was well organised and 38 people said the food and drink options were satisfactory, but there was a difference of opinion on the provision of toilet facilities.

 

Just over 80 per cent said the event was a safe and secure environment and over half of the people said they would recommend the event to others.

The commissioners say general points which were also brought up include the choice of bands and a lack of activities for children or families.

 

Of the 10 businesses which responded – five were located within the Sprintfest road closure or the suspension of parking area.

 

Eight were aware that the event was happening and knew that advance warning signs were in use.

 

When asked if they’d been affected by the car park closure, a few said they were.

 

One response said the closure of the car park during the day, when there was no event on, was detrimental and another said the evening parking restriction limited who can shop, especially as there was more motorbike parking than car spaces.

 

Others said they weren’t affected by the change in parking.

 

The survey also asked if mitigations had made an impact on the businesses – most said they didn’t make a difference but two businesses felt an impact with both saying there was a loss in footfall.

 

The businesses were asked what mitigations could be taken to reduce impact and the most common answer was changes to parking restrictions.

 

A few suggested moving the event somewhere else, like the Mooragh to keep the parking available.

 

Comments were also made about better advertising and a request for a warden to supervise the car parking.

 

The commissioners will now debate whether Sprintfest should go ahead in 2024, what the allocated budget should be and if there should be a change in location.

 

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