SOUTHEND Airshow will not be held in Southend, the Echo can reveal.

Despite having £100,000 in sponsorship money promised, and more than 24,000 backers on social media, the volunteer organisers of Southend Airshowand Military Festival have finally admitted they can’t bring the popular event back to the town.

As the Echo reported last week, organisers were considering holding the show over Shoebury’s East Beach after running into “cost issues”.

But the Ministry of Defence, which owns the shoreline at East Beach, had concerns with planes flying over its land. This left the event, scheduled for September 13 and 14, in limbo.

TomCurtis, one of the organisers, says they still want to host an airshow, but have started talking to landowners and councils outside Southend.

He said: “What’s the point in having the airshow outside Southend?

“We have always wanted to bring the event back to the town, and we have the event, but we’ve lost the venue. It’s not a situation of our choosing.”

“We thought, ‘it’s taken us two years. Do we give up all that hard work or look at still putting on an airshow, even outside Southend?’ I would like to apologise to all our supporters.

“Time will tell whether it will be a good decision.”

The group claims it was priced out of hosting the event on the seafront due to council costs, thought to be in region of £50,000 for road closures, which it was not told about until the start of this year.

The airshow was scrapped by the Tory administration in 2013, which said it could no longer pay the £150,000 annual bill.

Mr Curtis said: “After two years of working with the council and other groups we’ve hit a number of stumbling blocks.”

He did not elaborate on the problems, but last week organisers told the Echo some councillors were not as willing to back the airshow privately as they were publically.

“Graham Longley, councillor responsible for tourism, said he was surprised and disappointed by the criticism. Mr Curtis, who would not reveal other potential locations, as he said talks are at an early stage, still hopes to hold an airshow in September.

Wrong place – John Budge, secretary of the Shoebury Residents’ Association and Tony Nathan at East Beach car park. They are happy the airshow won’t be held there

It is not known whether the festival’s sponsors, which promised the majority of the £100,000 needed to put on the event, would back it outside the borough.

Concerns had been raised about capacity issues at East Beach from residents’ groups, due to the impact it would have on roads and railways.

John Budge, secretary of the Shoebury Residents’ Association, said: “It would be nice for the airshow to continue, but we felt East Beach was not the right place for it.”

Council refutes allegations

Southend Council has refuted claims that road closure costs would have set by the organisers £50,000.

Lib Dem Graham Longley, cabinet member for enterprise, tourism and economic development, said: “We’re disappointed that the air show won’t be coming to Southend. We’re welcoming and supportive of events that bring visitors to the town and have supported the organisers with their proposals over the past two years.

“The high costs of running an event of this scale – including costs for policing, marshalling, closing roads and staging - are well known and are the main reason the Council could no longer justify funding the event with council tax-payers’ money, at a time when we were having to make tough decisions about budget cuts. We have been open about these costs in all our conversations with the organisers.

“The more recent proposals to relocate the show to East Beach were sadly not workable due to concerns raised by the MoD, who own the neighbouring land and Foulness Island.

“While it is sad that the show now looks unlikely to return to Southend in the near future, we will continue to consider and support any future proposals that may come forward.”