The future for Appleby Fair? - A Travellers' Times investigation

The Travellers’ Times investigates what may be in store for the famous Appleby Horse Fair in the years ahead – and sifts the claims and the counter-claims for the truths and the untruths

We were initially approached by Sally, a Romany Gypsy and regular TT reader and Drive 2 Survive board member, whose family has been going to Appleby for generations and who was worried about all the conflicting claims and counter claims about Appleby Fair that she was reading on social media and in the newspapers.

“Over 20 years ago I wrote a children’s book about the fair called My Wonderful Place and I added a dedication to it as a tribute in memory of my dad - it’s that simple," Sally told us. “I have a lifetime of memories tied up with Appleby Fair and what it means to my own family,” she added. “Many others would say similar. It’s a representation of our history, culture and community like no other and it should not be discredited by the slander and lies of the anti-fair  lobby who make discriminatory recommendations based on negative stereotypes of our community and use racist comments and slurs.”

As a result of what Sally told us we have run the following investigation which is presented in a question-and-answer format. All the factual statements in this article have been verified. But first a bit about how the fair currently managed and a group that you will be hearing about a lot.

The fair has been going for nearly 300 years (the fair started in 1775 according to historian Andrew Connell) and for a while was not supported or welcomed by the authorities. But the Gypsies and Travellers kept turning up anyway and eventually the authorities allowed it to go ahead on the council owned Fair Hill - the beating heart of Appleby Fair.

“In 1911 Lord Lowther gave Fair Hill to Appleby Town Council as common land and to be used by Gypsies for their traditional fair,” says Romany Gypsy Billy Welch, who is the current lease-holder of Fair Hill for the duration of the fair - as was his father before him. “But the council shut Fair Hill and yet our ancestors still came and parked on the roads and lanes and held their fair. That went on for about 60 years before the council finally gave in and opened up Fair Hill again. I remember it as a young lad before Fair Hill was re-opened. Our trailers and wagons and vehicles would spread for two or three miles along the roads."

The fair as a whole is an unlicensed annual gathering and has no overall single authority in charge of running it. Instead a group of local authorities and other interested bodies and representatives 'support' the smooth running of the fair. This group is called the Multi Agency Strategic Co-ordinating Group (MASCG) and you can see their website here.

MASCG was established in 2008 to ensure all the relevant agencies worked together to share skills and knowledge to support the Fair.

The group is chaired by Eden District Council with support from representatives of the Gypsy and Traveller community, South Lakeland District Council, Cumbria County Council, Cumbria Constabulary, RSPCA, Environment Agency and other agencies. MASCG also has two Gypsy and Traveller representatives - Bill Lloyd and Billy Welch.

What is happening with the calls to licence the fair and charge for tickets?

In part, as Billy Welch, the Romany Gypsy leaseholder of Fair Hill points out in our recent Travellers’ Times article, Appleby Fair is already partly licenced and ticketed.

The campsites have to obtain a licence from the council to operate, and fair-goers are charged to camp for the fair. What is not licensed or ticketed is the part of the fair which happens outside of the campsites and the market field.

That includes Appleby Town itself and the River Eden, which are all public spaces. Licensing and charging fair-goers for a ticket to enter those public spaces does not seem legally or practically possible. Indeed, this issue has been looked at in the past and rejected on the advice of legal experts.

However, in a public meeting in Appleby Town following the fair, which was reported on by the Cumberland and Westmoreland Herald, the Appleby Fair Multi Agency Support Co-ordinating Group (MASCG) Chairman and Eden Council Deputy Chief Les Clark said that: “There has been some discussion, and I think rightly so, about the ongoing question of whether the fair could be an organised event. It’s a question I don’t think will go away unless it is properly and independently evaluated.”

He added that He had won agreement to commission independent experts to explore the “legalities and the practicalities” of the fair and has promised evidence gathering and widespread consultation from all communities involved.

In response to questions about the cost of the work, Mr Clark said: “I think it’s going to cost some money but it will be money well spent because of the need to answer those questions and so we can have confidence in the outcomes.”

Of the timescale, he added: “It will take as long as is necessary to make it a proper and meaningful piece of work.”

The following week on the 27th July, the issue came up again when Councillor Phil Dew mentioned it at a public meeting in Kirby Stephen (taken from the minutes of the meeting):

“Cllr Dew said that MASCG had discussed a change to the organisation of the fair including ticketing options last year and had acted on a Barrister’s advice which had led them to conclude that this would not be possible. However, following the intervention of a knowledgeable individual, it had been agreed to look at this issue again. A brief to suitable consultants was being prepared which would seek to: ‘Identify the relevant legislation pertinent to the Fair becoming an organised event, and provide an evaluation of if and how these laws could be applied in the specific context of the Fair”

Travellers’ Times analysis and conclusion: Eden Council say they will be calling in and paying consultants to look at the legalities of the fair and identify the relevant legislation pertinent to the Fair becoming an organised event, and provide an evaluation of if and how these laws could be applied in the specific context of the Fair. The key point in what they say is the ‘if and how’, meaning that the consultants may well agree with the previous legal experts and conclude that licensing and ticketing the public space part of the fair is just not possible.

As for one authority organising the fair and replacing the MASCG coalition structure – Appleby Town Council say they don’t want to organise it, and Eden Council (and Cumbria County Council) are soon to be disbanded and replaced by Westmoreland and Furness Council which will start operating in April 2023. So, if anyone is going to take over as a single organising authority it would be Westmoreland and Furness Council and that isn’t going to happen anytime soon.

So would the new Westmoreland and Furness Council take up the mantle and become the single organising authority for 2024?

It’s not unknown for Councils to organise large public events, for example Lambeth Council in London organises the annual Lambeth Country Show which is licensed but free to the public and does not require tickets, but it is unusual as organising events not one of a councils core statutory duties – and they cost money. And even if the council does take over the fair rather than just become a key player in MASCG, it’s still hard to see how they could legally and practically charge people to go into the area covered by the current fair activities that are public spaces. So for this one its ‘watch this space…’

What’s happening with the Appleby Fair parish poll on the fair's future called for by the Appleby Fair Communities Group (AFCG) who say they represent local residents and who are campaigning to drastically change the future of the fair?

The AFCG called for a parish poll on the future of Appleby Horse Fair soon after the 2022 Appleby Horse Fair ended in June. From information provided to the TT by email from the AFGC itself, the poll questions were:

Q1. Do you feel that public health and safety is compromised during Appleby Fair?

Q2. Should the costs associated with Appleby fair continue to be covered by tax payers?

Q3 Should Appleby Fair be a legally organised event where relevant authorities enforce legal powers to promote health & safety, reduce crimes, disorders & anti-social behaviour?

Q4 should the markets on the fields known as “the Market Fields” be allowed to continue?

An Appleby Town (population approx. 3,000) parish meeting reportedly attended by 100 people voted for the poll. At a Kirby Stephen (population approximately 1,600) parish meeting attended by approx. 30-40 local parishioners and outsiders, a motion to hold the poll was not voted on and instead a statement asking that the fair should have an “organising authority” was carried.

 Appleby Town Council then put the poll and the questions to Eden District Council who rejected the four questions in the poll citing “existing legislation, case law and the potential £1,500 cost of a parish poll.”

Travellers’ Times analysis and conclusion: With Eden District Council refusing the poll, it looks like the poll is not going to happen and is going nowhere.

Have the Appleby Fair Communities Group made any other demands about Appleby Fair’s future?

The Appleby Fair Communities Group (AFCG) recently wrote to the Appleby Fair Multi-Agency Strategic Co-ordinating Group with some proposals. The demands where also posted on the AFCG Facebook Page.

 The Travellers’ Times has been given a suggested response to the proposals from Bill Lloyd, one of the Gypsy/Traveller representatives that sit on the MASCG and Billy Welch's right hand man. Bill is acting in his personal capacity though - this is not an official MASCG response. We publish both the demands from the AFCG and Bill Lloyds response below:

AFCG PROPOSAL:

The group (AFCG) would like to request the following actions for Appleby Fair 2023 in a bid to reduce anti-social & unacceptable behaviour and improve relations between the GRT community and the local communities.

On arrival at The Fair / the town the following checks should be made

1. All vehicles arriving to the town should be checked for valid vehicle tax, MOT, insurance & theft.  This is a simple check using ANPR cameras on the roads into the town.
2. All vehicles arriving checked that the vehicle number plate & caravan number plate match
3. Vehicles checked for red diesel.  It may be difficult to test all arrivals, but this could be done randomly on arrival & in the area / stopping places in the weeks leading up to The Fair.
4. Trading standards to check all stalls, preferably on arrival and during the event.  Action taken immediately regarding counterfeit goods.

Response from Bill Lloyd MASCG Traveller representative Points 1 – 4 

1. If AFCG have evidence that there are high levels of offending which are not currently being detected this should be provided to Police. 
2. Gypsy and Traveller Representatives have no sympathy with offenders, and we fully support Police, Trading Standards and HMRC decisions in regulating these matters.
3. Monitoring of vehicle documentation, use of un-taxed diesel and the sale of counterfeit goods at the Fair have all been subject to checks in the past and have been managed according to considerations of resources and proportionality.
4. Increased checking as proposed by AFCG would add significantly to costs, which may be justified if previous checks show significant offending, but not otherwise.
5. If selective checking is carried, HMRC would need to take care that the selection of vehicles to be checked is in fact random, and not based on characteristics which might be seen as discriminatory or harassment.  (e.g. vehicles pulling caravans, horse transport etc.)  
6. If offending is minimal, as we suspect, these may have the effect of increasing hostility and tension and cost, rather than the opposite.

AFCG PROPOSAL: 

Regarding drinking on the street, there should be no street drinking as per the rules for the rest of the year. We already have safety concerns about drinking around horses on a busy street, especially on the sands.  However, we are realistic that it’s not an easy fix, therefore we propose that only alcohol purchased from the pubs should be drank on the street, strictly in the designated areas.  This would better control quantities drank and curb anti-social behaviour.

Response from Bill Lloyd MASCG Traveller representative:

Public Space Protection Orders are in force where appropriate.  Prohibition on consuming alcohol not purchased from the pubs would be unenforceable. 

AFCG PROPOSAL:

The group would like to see horse passports utilised, with passports checked in line with current government guidelines.  

Response from Bill Lloyd MASCG Traveller representative:

1. MASCG has previously discussed this suggestion, in the context of resources and proportionality.
2. Passport regulation remains a decision for County Council Trading Standards. 
3. A person in charge of a horse is not necessarily the owner.
4. Significant resources would be required for universal checking.
5. For random checking, if owners do not come forward and horses are impounded, Trading Standards would be responsible for accommodation and welfare of the horses.

AFCG PROPOSAL:

We also have a suggestion to prevent early arrivals. We would like to see arrivals managed properly, perhaps held in stopping points and released in blocks to control arrival to the Appleby Campsites.  This would improve organisation, reduce disruption & improve safety.  We propose that those who arrive last & are furthest away should be allowed to move onto the campsites first, while those in areas such as Powis are held till last.  This would remove the incentive to arrive early.

Response from Bill Lloyd MASCG Traveller representative:

This proposal is incoherent, unenforceable and unrealistic.  It does not explain why or how ‘releasing in blocks’ would prevent early arrivals or improve safety.  When the campsites open on Thursday morning, the roadside stopping places clear very quickly. The task of monitoring arrival times for 1000 vehicles, labelling them and then controlling the sequence in which they are allowed to move would require dozens of additional officers and add many thousands of pounds to costs. Any non-compliant driver who joins a queue of ‘controlled’ arrivals could not be turned round or denied entry without designated ‘holding areas’ by the various gates.  The system would break down into chaos very quickly.

AFCG PROPOSAL:

Horse drawn Bowtops (not those arriving on a motorised vehicle) would not be included in this scheme, but we would like to see better facilities for them. It should be priority that Bowtops have first access to Fair Hill and have safe stopping places on the way.  

Response from Bill Lloyd MASCG Traveller representative:

Bowtops already have first access to Fair Hill and other camp sites. A significant number of bowtops are part of a family group, comprising vehicles and caravans, and they stick together. We agree that improved facilities for bowtops might relieve pressure on sanitation and littering.

AFCG PROPOSAL:

We believe most of the above should be taking place regardless of our request, due to existing laws and to keep the GRT and local community safe.

Response from Bill Lloyd MASCG Traveller representative: 

There is no existing law which permits marshalling and controlling selected groups of vehicles on public highways.

Travellers’ Times analysis and conclusion: The AFCG demands are either pushing at an open door and are already in place to manage the fair, or they are disproportionate within the current strategic aim of proportionately managing the fair with the available resources, or they are illegal and unenforceable.

Do the Appleby Fair Communities Group (AFCG) represent the local communities surrounding Appleby Fair?

Councillor Phil Dews, an elected local councillor for the soon to be operational Westmoreland and Furness Council Kirby Stephens and Tebay Ward, recently made some good points about representation in his published letter to the Westmoreland and Cumberland Herald. Cllr Dews said that his recent election to that ward gave him “a mandate to speak for the whole of that community,” and that he was not a spokesperson for the Appleby Fair Communities Group. Cllr Dews went on to add: “For most (local) people, the fair is just a nuisance which they try to avoid if at all possible – but they recognise its right to exist and tolerate it.”

He also wrote: “I receive numerous emails from the anti-fair lobby – the content of which are so extreme they couldn’t be repeated here,” adding that: “Legitimate concerns are being taken seriously – within the bounds of what is lawful, affordable, practical and sustainable.”

EDIT: Since publishing this article the Travellers' Times has also been approached by local residents who say they actually love the fair and support it.

Travellers’ Times analysis and conclusion: The AFCG do not represent resident communities to Appleby Fair in any meaningful sense of the term. The AFCG are a campaign pressure group and not a representative group of anyone but their own and supporters’ views, local or otherwise. In truth the Appleby 'communities' do not all hold the same view. Some local residents support the fair, some put up with it, and some are against it and want it banned or the management of it drastically changed. The AFCG also get a lot of media coverage both during and after the fair – partly because conflict sells newspapers and partly because most newspapers understand that any negative Gypsy and Traveller report about rubbish and crime is useful clickbait . Local residents to Appleby and its environs are actually represented by their democratically elected councillors and MP’s, and their elected Cumbria Police and Crime Commissioner. Some of the local councillors - like Cllr  Dew - have already worked with MASCG to improve the experience of the fair for their local residents and that work will continue.

Aaaah – but didn’t the Cumbria Police and Crime Commissioner say something a few years back about wanting to ban Appleby Horse Fair?

Under pressure in a routine surgery event at Kirkby Stephen in 2018, which turned into an impromptu public meeting, Cumbria Police and Crime Commissioner Peter McCall did say that if he had a “magic wand” he would ban the fair. Its important to note that Commissioner McCall is an elected politician and not a police officer and he needs to balance the different views of his welectorate and then feed that back to Cumbria Police.

But in an interview with The Cumberland News, Mr McCall accepted there was no chance of scrapping the fair.

"I was holding a routine surgery and it turned into a public meeting, with about 80 residents who were very upset over issues around the horse fair," Mr McCall told the Cumberland Herald. (The population of Kirby Stephen is approx. 1,600.)

"At one point, I did say that if I had a magic wand I would ban it.

"But I went on to say that was not going to happen.

"The fair has been running for 300 years and banning it is just not an option, so we have to manage it as best we can.

Commissioner McCall is also on record saying that decisions about whether to ban the fair or not are not in his remit or powers.

A full account of what happened after the 2018 Kirby Stephen meeting can be found in this Travellers’ Times article: Dispute about future of Appleby Fair smoothed over after meetings with Cumbria Crime Commissioner - says Billy Welch | Travellers Times

Travellers’ Times analysis and conclusion: Commissioner McCall does not have a magic wand and cannot ban the fair.

Is the Appleby Fair Wikipedia page accurate and has someone been messing about with it?

Anyone can become a Wikipedia editor and go onto a page and change it. The Appleby Fair Wikipedia page has recently been changed a lot by a poster using the same anonymous profile. The most recent edit to the Wikipedia page happened in August 2022 prompting this social media post from Bill Lloyd, a genuine Wikipedia editor and an authority on Appleby Fair who sits on the MASCG coordinating committee for the Fair alongside the Gypsy Traveller representative Billy Welch:

“I usually keep out of social media debates, but I am making an exception on this matter, which reveals the dishonesty of at least one person who is spreading blatant lies about the fair. The Wikipedia article about Appleby Fair pointed out correctly that Fair Hill and the market fields are cleaned at no cost to the taxpayer. A few weeks ago someone (anonymously, of course) edited the page to say that these fields were cleaned 'at huge public cost.' Because I wrote most of the Original article, I was notified and immediately changed it back. The anonymous half-wit has now edited it again to say that Fair Hill and market fields are cleaned by council workers, paid for by local taxpayers. This is a deliberate lie, intended to stir up opposition to the fair, written by someone who does not have the cojones to give their name. I refuse to get into debate with anonymous liars, and will not comment further on here, but I will write to the papers to try to set the record straight. This is what we are up against.”

The Travellers' Times can also reveal that the same anonymous Wikipedia editor has also been up to mischief in 2021  and has previously changed the number of arrests at the 2014 fair from the correct 28 to 2,800, the number arrests in 2015 from the correct 15 to 150, and the number of arrests in 2018 from the correct 7 to 700. The anonymous editor appears to have a twisted sense of humour because in 2021 they also changed a sentence in the Wikipedia page from the correct ‘The local authority Eden District Council’ to ‘The local legends Eden District Council’.

Analysis and conclusion by the Travellers’ Times: Wikipedia allows open source editing so these kind of edits (which Wikipedia calls page ‘vandalism’) are probably inevitable. However, genuine editors, like Bill Lloyd work hard to counter vandal editors and Wikipedia can and does ban editors that repeatedly vandalise a page with untruths. Bill Lloyd obviously has his suspicions as to who is the "anonymous liar" vandalising the page, but unfortunately the Travellers' Times cannot verify who it is. At the time of going to press the Appleby Fair Wikipedia page is correct.

So who does clear up Fair Hill, the original beating heart of Appleby Fair, leased to Billy Welch by Appleby Town Council?

Appleby Fair Communities Group recently posted this “fact check” with the following questions on their Facebook page:

Ever happy to oblige and in the interests of ethical and responsible journalism, the Travellers’ Times did a proper fact-check for the AFCG by approaching Appleby Town Council with questions based on the AFCG Facebook post and got the following responses: 

1. Does the tax payer pay for the clean-up of Fair Hill?

Appleby Town Council response: Untrue, Mr Welch organises and pays for the full clean-up of Fair Hill.

2. The lease for Fair Hill comes with free water which is paid for at the tax-payers expense – or is the cost of water included in the lease cost?

Appleby Town Council response: Untrue – the Fair Hill water usage for the week is calculated on meter readings and charged accordingly.

3. Fair Hill was not cleaned up properly after the fair and the Town Council had to step in to clean up human waste and other debris at the tax-payers expense?

Appleby Town Council response: Untrue – the Town Clerk checked Fair Hill fields with Mr Welch when he vacated the fields and rubbish was subsequently left on the hill after the clean-up had taken place.

4. Waste from Fair Hill was placed in skips on site by the lease-holders own clean-up crew –  but then the council has to empty those skips at the tax-payers expense?

Appleby Town Council response: Untrue – any skips placed on Fair Hill were organised and paid for by Mr Welch.

Travellers' Times analysis and conclusion. Enough said and thank you Appleby Town Council for clearing this matter up!

Are there any other unlicenced events in the UK like Appleby Fair or is Appleby Fair unique and also unique in attracting a few trouble-makers?

There are many unlicenced events in the UK, but a possible comparison to Appleby Fair could be the Notting Hill Carnival, which has taken place annually on the August bank holiday weekend for the past decades in the streets of West London.

The similarities between Appleby Fair and the Notting Hill Carnival are that both events:

1. Are large cultural events that take place (partly in the case of Appleby) in public space and both are unlicenced, un-ticketed and free for the public to attend.
2. Have no overall organising authority that is in control, albiet Notting Hill does have an organising body but they are not in overall control and work with the police and councils to make decisions.
3. The policing and managing strategy is the same at both events – to allow the event to go ahead and instead try to stop any trouble-makers in a proportionate way.
4. Are largely directly or indirectly paid for through public taxes.
5. Are covered in an extremely negative way after the event has finished by all sections of the Media. The reports concentrate on the rubbish left behind and on crime.
6. Face calls to ban it or drastically change it after the event – which are also covered by the media.
7. Are cultural celebrations heavily linked to an ethnic minority.

However, there are some differences. Obviously, at an estimated one million attendees on average, Notting Hill Carnival is a lot larger than Appleby Horse Fair over, which has an estimated 20,000 to 40,000 attendees. This means that Notting Hill Carnival is approximately 30 times larger than Appleby Fair and this should be taken into account when comparing statistics like arrests and policing numbers. Also, unlike Notting Hill Carnival, Appleby Fair is part-licenced (the campsites and market field) and campers and stall holders pay a fee to enter and stay/set up. There are also designated car parks where day visitors pay a fee to park. There is no overnight camping at the Notting Hill Carnival and no public car parks specifically for the event itself.

(Note on attendee numbers – no one actually counts how many people go to both events so all attendee figures are basically informed guesses by the authorities and media involved).

So - let’s tackle the issue of trouble and compare the crime figures for both events to work out if Appleby Fair is unique in attracting trouble:

For Appleby Fair 2022 there were 18 arrests and 40,000 people attended and it was policed by 100 police officers (according to pre-event reports from the police – but more may have been called on duty during the fair). That’s one arrest for every 2,230 people attending, with one police officer per 400 attendees and no police were injured.

For Notting Hill Carnival 2022 (with respect and sorrow for the poor man who got stabbed to death at the carnival) there was one arrest for every 4,780 people attending, there were 12,600 police officers on duty, so that’s one police officer per 79 people, and 74 police officers were injured. Seven attendees were also stabbed.

So … on the face of it a lot fewer police officers on duty at Appleby make proportionately more arrests than the far more numerous police officers at Notting Hill Carnival. However, at Notting Hill Carnival the arrests are for more serious offences and 74 officers where injured in the course of their duty plus there were seven stabbings reported, and at Appleby Fair no police officers were reported injured and there were no stabbings. This fits in with Cumbria Police’s strategy of “more proactive policing” for this year’s fair. At last year’s Appleby Fair there were only 13 arrests, and in 2018 there were seven arrests. 

The police response to both Appleby Fair and Notting Hill Carnival 2022:

After Appleby Fair ended, Chief Superintendent Matt Kennerley of Cumbria Police said:

“From a policing perspective, it has been another busy year for our officers – as would be expected at the biggest Fair we have seen in recent years.

“Our officers have been proactive throughout the 2022 Fair, which has resulted not just in an increase in the number of arrests on 2021 but a significant increase in other activities including in excess of 200 fixed penalty notices issued, vehicles uplifted and more than 100 individuals searched under Stop and Search and Section 60/60AA powers, resulting in weapons including bladed weapons being seized.

“However, it should always be recognised that the overwhelming majority of those who attend the Fair do so positively.

"We would like to pass on our thanks to those people and wish everyone a safe journey home.”

After the Notting Hill Carnival, Dr Alison Heydari, Commander of Local Policing, said:

'Officers from across the Met have been working tirelessly over the past two days to ensure that all those who came to Notting Hill Carnival could enjoy the experience safely. It was the culmination of months of close coordination with the organisers, our local authority and emergency service partners and the community.

The atmosphere over the past two days has been largely positive and good natured as Carnival should be. Regrettably, on Monday evening we saw a number of violent incidents and a 21-year-old man has lost his life.

'Our thoughts are with his family as they come to terms with their terrible loss. A murder investigation is under way, led by homicide detectives from the Met's Specialist Crime Command. 

'They will pursue every possible line of enquiry to identify those responsible and bring them to justice.”

As Cllr Dews for Kirby Stephen states: “The fair isn’t unique in attracting violence, littering and anti-social behaviour – so it’s wrong to stigmatise the whole GRT community. They are not sufficient justification for banning the event,” and the same could be said for the Notting Hill Carnival.

Travellers’ Times analysis and conclusion: The sheer size of the Notting Hill Carnival and the fact that it takes place in the middle of a city that is in the grip of a knife crime epidemic makes it unrealistic to compare it with Appleby Fair. However, what is clear is that both are important cultural events and that for the vast majority of the people who attend their experience of Appleby Fair and the Carnival is one of enjoyment and fun, meeting up with friends, and openly celebrating and showcasing their different ethnic cultures and identities.

Conclusion and the final word: A letter from Bill Lloyd, a Gypsy and Traveller Appleby Fair MASCG representative

This letter from Bill Lloyd which was published in the Westmoreland Gazette shortly after the fair ended, is well worth a read and we publish it below with Bill’s permission:

IN THE Westmorland Gazette’s online report 'Horse Fair needs to pay its way, say Conservatives’, regarding the cost to the public of managing Appleby Fair, Cllr Airey and PCC McCall make some valid points, but it is a complicated situation, with no easy solutions, and I would like to provide some context.

Additional police resources were deployed in 2019 in response to complaints from the people of Kirkby Stephen, who made it clear that they did not want horses in their town in the build up to Appleby Fair.

Cumbria Police responded proportionately, and delivered exactly what Kirkby Stephen asked for, although in my opinion they could have been more flexible towards people who just wanted to rest their weary horses for a few minutes and buy some groceries.

As a result, the police occasionally outnumbered the visitors and there have been complaints from some businesses which lost trade and from horse-drawn

visitors who were moved on, but police can hardly be blamed for doing what the town asked for so clearly.

It is interesting to note the significant increase in police resources resulted in fewer calls for service, the same number of arrests, and an increase in the number of crimes reported.

Contrary to the reporting from some national newspapers, the public clean-up costs for Appleby Fair are remarkably low when viewed objectively, and it is not unusual for street cleaning at public events to be paid for out of public funds. Appleby stall-holders and campers on licensed sites pay an entrance fee, which covers the whole cost of clean up on those sites.

Fair Hill and the Market Fields are cleaned within 48 hours, at no cost whatever to the public. For street cleaning, the most recent figures (2017-2018) show that Eden District Council spent £17,000 on street cleaning in the towns and on the ‘transit sites’ during Fair week.

The street cleaning is quick, efficient and thorough. The best estimate of the number of people attending the Fair is about 40,000, which works out as a cost for street cleaning of 42p per visitor.

Accommodation is fully booked up for a radius of at least 20 miles around Appleby, including hotels, guest houses, lodges, bed and breakfast, campsites and many farmers’ fields. That revenue provides employment and wages, both subject to taxation, and any profit is also liable to income tax.

All the people who benefit locally pay council tax locally and spend their money locally. All these taxes help to offset the public cost of the fair, but they are seldom mentioned.

It is understandable that people who receive no benefit from the Fair will complain about the cost, but that is not unlike complaining about the cost of the council-funded leisure centre because they do not use it.

No-one can deny that there are problems associated with the fair, particularly sanitation and antisocial behaviour. Although undoubtedly offensive, such antisocial behaviour is a national problem, not exclusive to Appleby Fair. Cumbria Police have stated that the problems of crime and disorder at Appleby are not out of proportion to other large public events and confirmed that although the Fair is one of the largest events in their calendar, it is one of the least troublesome.

Elected representatives, including Cllrs Airey, Dew and Greenwood, with PCC McCall, have been successful this year in bringing about the improvements demanded by their constituents, and with good will on all sides that process can continue to address the remaining problems.

Bill Lloyd

Traveller Representative

Multi Agency Strategic Co-Ordinating Group (MASCG)

By Mike Doherty for Travellers’ Times Investigations with research support from Sally

(Lead picture: Appleby Town during Appleby Fair 2022 © Bela Varadi)