THIS year’s Ilkley Carnival will not go ahead due to coronavirus, the chairman of the committee, Andrew Stacey, confirmed this week.

In a statement Mr Stacey said the difficult decision had been taken following guidance and advice from various public bodies.

Mr Stacey said: “Ilkley Carnival is a family fun day attended by generations of families. With talk of those over 70 years of age potentially being instructed to self-isolate for several months, it is unlikely this group would be able to attend the Carnival. The Carnival relies on a great community spirit, with around 150-200 volunteers assisting with the set-up, take down and running of the event. Some of those fall within the 70 plus age group and so may not be allowed to attend. Others may be self-isolating and we may not know who is available until they turn up on the day. Safety is paramount and for the event to operate safely the Carnival needs these volunteers and obviously cannot plan with this uncertainty.

“The Carnival showground has no mains water supply which makes the current hand washing advice difficult. The only alternative is the extensive use of hand sanitisers across the site. However, recent days have seen a shortage of that product, with even schools, hospitals and other public buildings running short.

“In light of the above the Carnival Committee felt unable to make any other decision than to cancel this year’s event and start again in 2021. We are extremely sorry to all of those who look forward to the event.

“We are just over six weeks away from the event and we wanted to make a decision now to prevent further costs being incurred by both ourselves and particularly those preparing for the parade. The Carnival itself has already incurred several thousand pounds worth of expenditure which cannot be recouped. However, we plan for such ‘one-offs’ and at present this will not affect the viability of the event going forward. We are planning on keeping the ‘Our Planet’ theme for 2021 to minimise waste.

“Each year our town comes together to show a fantastic community spirit in supporting Ilkley Carnival. We hope that same community spirit comes to the fore in the difficult months ahead to support our older and vulnerable residents. We look forward to seeing everyone on May Day, Monday 3 May 2021 and hope the community understands the reasoning behind this decision.”